India Narrative

Jammu and Kashmir is the first among all States and Union Territories across the country to be integrated with the National Single Window Clearance System (NSWS). The country’s youngest but largest UT achieved this pioneering distinction when Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha launched the Jammu and Kashmir Single Window Clearance System through the cyber domain www.singlewindow.jk.gov.in at Raj Bhawan in Jammu on Monday. The NSWS is linked with India Industrial Land Bank (IILB) which hosts 45 industrial parks of Jammu and Kashmir. This will help investors to discover available land parcels in the UT. A 2020 budgetary announcement of the Government of India, NSWS is a digital platform that serves as a guide for investors to identify and to apply for approvals as per their business requirements. The platform was soft launched in September 2021 by the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Textiles and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal. This integration will el...

Neelum Valley:  The main source of livelihood of some local farmers residing in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) is under threat due to a surge in the import of Chinese walnuts, placing the lives of 30,000 families at stake. There is strong competition for organic Kashmiri walnuts in the market with the arrival of Chinese walnuts. Although walnuts coming from China have soft shells and white kernels, Pok walnuts are organic and better in taste. Unfortunately, they are outnumbered by the Chinese nuts in volume. Writing for the Dawn newspaper, Pakistani Prof Sajid Mir said growing organic walnuts at home provided easy seasonal income for villagers in PoK. However, climate change and lack of government attention are turning opportunities into a challenge. According to Mir, there is a general downturn in the walnut business due to several reasons including the unusual phenomenon of rains over the last decade. This has led to drop in dry fruit rates to a quarter of their price over the l...