The Big Story: Kashmir churn

In the popular perception, coalition governments are seen to be chaotic. So when Narendra Modi came to power with the first Lok Sabha majority in three decades, many Indians naturally hoped that solutions for core issues such as Kashmir would be executed as per a plan.

When the Bharatiya Janata Party took power in an alliance with the People’s Democratic Party in Kashmir in March 2015, it was hailed to be a bold move. But it soon became clear that the BJP's hardline positions were not going to help heal wounds in the state.

This has become all the more apparent since early in July, after the killing of Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani. Even as the BJP took a rigid position, its own coalition partner, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is said to have asked the police to apologise for killing Wani.

Initially, the Union government insisted that talks with separatists were not an option. But a few weeks later, Home Minister Rajnath Singh travelled to Kashmir and asked to talk to anyone who would be willing to talk. At the same time, Chief Minister Mufti asked Hurriyat separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani to help the authorities maintain peace in Kashmir. Geelani, however, rebuffed the request and asked Mufti to refrain from “killing and maiming her own people”. This, even as Prime Minister Modi on Sunday spoke about “sending a strong message to separatists”.

As unrest bubbled in the Valley, Modi chose in his Independence Day speech to make a reference to the separatist demands in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. He seemed not to understand that no matter how devious Pakistan’s efforts to stir trouble in the Valley have been, Kashmir’s rage was largely its own. Bringing in Balochistan is not a solution to Kashmir.

Seventy people in the Valley are dead in the latest round of unrest. Now more than ever, the Modi government needs to get its act together. The Valley needs wise politics, not cycles of mindless bluster and confused retreats.

The Big Scroll

  1. The new wave of anger in Kashmir is not just about poor governance but about preserving an identity.
  2. The situation in Kashmir is so grim that even the Opposition is co-operating with the BJP.
  3. Why the case of an "eye-sniper" officer in Egypt holds important lessons for Kashmir.
  4. Stolen Wi-Fi passwords, mohalla news: How Kashmir gets around the internet clampdown.

Political Picks

  1. The curfew has been lifted from most parts of Kashmir – after a 52-day lockdown.
  2. The Union minister for tourism Mahesh Sharma has advised foreign tourists against wearing short skirts, ostensibly for their own safety.
  3. Arguing that men and women have equal rights in Islam, a noted Islamic institution of the Barelvi sect, the largest sect amongst Indian Muslims, has ruled than women can also initiate divorce, just like men, in an Islamic marriage.
  4. Rio 2016 Olympics Review: Indian athletes fell short despite last-minute Rs 20-crore push.

Punditry

  1. Public policy requirements of the 21st century demand a bureaucracy less generalist, argues Manish Sabharwal in the Indian Express.
  2. In Mint, Anoop Singh brings some lessons from China: weakening fundamentals in corporate balance sheets are translating into rising bank vulnerabilities.
  3. Man carrying his dead wife in Orissa: Manu Joseph explains what this says about India in the Hindustan Times.

Don’t Miss

M Rajshekhar explains how a river in Tamil Nadu turned into a sewage canal

Owned by villagers, the shacks are unregistered extractors of water that fill up tankers heading to nearby cities. Selvaraj said the shacks “extract continuously”. This is partly a result of the worsening economics of agriculture, he explained. “A tanker with 12,000 litres fetches its owner Rs 2,500. In contrast, agriculture does not yield an annual profit of even Rs 15,000,” he said.

The result is a groundwater economy that caters to cities and households and not to the fields.