Prof Mushtaq Kaw's book 'Kashmir Feudalism: Amid Changing Land Tenures', delves into the historical socio-economic conditions of Kashmir, particularly highlighting the stark contrast between the privileged few and the impoverished masses. Kaw traces the roots of feudalism in the region, emphasising the enduring class-based society shaped by agrarian relations.From the pre-sultanate period to the Mughal, Sikh, and Dogra regimes, the peasantry's plight worsened, marked by oppressive exactions and forced flight from their lands. The British colonial era further intensified the suffering, culminating in Maharaja Gulab Singh's revocation of peasants' rights. The peasantry, tied to the land, endured unprecedented taxation, symbolized by even taxing night soil.The report underscores the transformative post-1947 era, where the popular government abolished feudal systems, distributing land among tenants without compensation. Kaw's reluctance to label the perio
With many printing presses and lot many newspapers around, the journalists in Jammu and Kashmir attempted and constituted many associations to articulate the issue the media was confronted with.
Successive rulers before and after 1947 have remained reluctant in encouraging English journalism in Jammu and Kashmir. Fighting odds, restrictions and outright denial of permissions, the English media always existed in the erstwhile state but never became the mainstay.
By the fall of the nineteenth century, Urdu had effectively replaced Persian as the language of the court and emerged as the new lingua franca connecting a diverse Jammu and Kashmir.