Kashmir's Development Dilemma

Integrating local knowledge with scientific planning can turn Kashmir's geographical challenges into opportunities.

- Asif Iqbal

The road to Kashmir was blocked time and again this year. Landslides, triggered by heavy rains, buried dozens of vehicles, severing the connection between mountains and mainland.

For days, residents waited, cut off from schools, hospitals, and markets. Stories of patients missing treatment and children unable to attend school became daily news. These are not isolated incidents.

In Jammu and Kashmir, they are symptoms of a systemic problem: development without geography.

Across the region, the central and state governments have repeatedly pursued one-size-fits-all models of development. These blueprints, designed for India’s plains, assume wide roads, massive dams, and large industrial zones are the markers of progress.

But Kashmir’s complex topography, including mountains, rivers, deep valleys, and shifting soils, defies such simplifications.

Consider the ambitious four-lane highway project in the Chenab Valley. Promoted as a solution to backwardness, it aimed to improve trade and employment in the region. But engineers faced formidable challenges.

The terrain’s steep slopes, unstable soil layers, and persistent landslides made construction a battle against nature. Sections of the highway now lie abandoned or require near-continuous repair, turning a potential lifeline into a costly burden.