Code Red for Kashmir's Living Legacy

As memory meets modern conservation to save Kashmir's symbol, the ancient Chinar facing an existence challenge gets a digital identity

- By IRFAN AMIN MALIK

On a cold afternoon in Srinagar, the rain settles gently on the bare branches of the Chinar trees.

Their limbs stretch over streets. Beneath one such Chinar in the Muni-warabad area of the city, Ali Mohammad Sheikh pauses to look. A 50-year-old shopkeeper from Pulwama, Sheikh peers closely at its massive trunk, where a small metal plate bearing a QR code has been carefully fastened. It is something he has never seen before.

Wrapped in a grey pheran, Sheikh studies the tag with curiosity. "Only when I asked did I learn that the government has done this to document and protect these trees." The metal tag links the Chinar to a digital profile that records its age, girth, location, health, and ecological status. It is part of a wider conservation initiative that aims to give each surviving Chinar tree in Kashmir a unique identity, much like an Aadhaar number, in an effort to reverse decades of neglect and unchecked loss.