Blog

People of Kashmir speak on why they voted and why they didn’t

 
/ January 6, 2015

Video Volunteers has long recognised that there is a problem with the media coverage of Kashmir, and in response, we decided to bring our model of community video to Kashmir in September 2013, when we trained 11 Right to Information (RTI) activists as video reporters. The timing was fortuitous, because...

What do the Kashmir election results say about nationalism and separatism?

 
/ January 2, 2015

The Prime Minister said he “saw people’s faith in democracy” in the voter queues in Kashmir last month, and the Defence Minister claimed that Pakistan was “unnerved by the 72 per cent voter turnout” in the state. There was unusually high voter turn out in the recently concluded Kashmir state...

Few teachers and no toilets in middle school

 
/ December 29, 2014

“We want to be taught properly in our class and we want there to be discipline in our school,” says Meena, a student of the only middle school in all of Gaunaha Block, Bihar. VV-PACS Community Correspondent Tanju Devi reports on the woeful infrastructure of this school that serves the...

Fighting the Impending Catastrophe of Land Pollution in Kashmir

 
/ December 26, 2014

The possibility of an epidemic looms large over Anantnag, the second biggest district in Kashmir after Srinagar. After the floods, which hit the region in September earlier this year, the problems of sanitation and hygiene have become manifest. Fumigation of the busy areas in the city, especially the bus stand...

SUCCESS: In Kashmir, a medical centre is functioning again

 
/ December 25, 2014

An allopathic dispensary in rural Kashmir remained closed most of the time and no doctors were assigned to it. Community Correspondent Peer Azhar reported on the issue and with the help of his community brought change. Now the dispensary stays open for six-days-a-week and paramedical staff visits regularly. While the...

Documenting the Aftershocks: Village in Kashmir cries for compensation

 
/ December 24, 2014

Floods that hit Kashmir earlier this year, destroyed the crops of Krechapathri village in Shopian district. Community Correspondent Musheer ul Haq Manhaas reports on the damage caused by water and the troubling conditions faced by locals. The Assembly Elections that will conclude on Friday have delayed the rehabilitation drive following...

Kashmir Flood Survivors still wait for compensation

 
/ December 24, 2014

As the Assembly Elections come to a close in Jammu & Kashmir, those affected by September’s floods continue to wait on relief and compensation. Will the newly formed government be able to take on this mammoth task? This report from Lelhaar in Pulwama evidences the damage done to the lives...

No BPL Ration Cards for Kashmiris of Baramulla

 
/ December 23, 2014

Community Correspondent Abid reports on the plight of locals in Baramulla district of Jammu & Kashmir, who haven’t received the Below Poverty Line ration card. The card is essential to obtain subsidised food grains from government shops.