Celebrating Saga Dawa in Ladakh
, and • Leh, Jammu and Kashmir

Celebrating Saga Dawa in Ladakh

This is an important festival for Tibetan Buddhists here in Hanle River Valley. In the first celebration after the pandemic, six hamlets come together amidst the beating of drums and blowing of trumpets

January 16, 2023 | Ritayan Mukherjee

Fenced out: pastoral lives of Bakarwals
, , and • Ganderbal, Jammu and Kashmir

Fenced out: pastoral lives of Bakarwals

Every year the community ascends to the higher Himalayas in Kashmir in search of grazing grounds. Ongoing fencing of pastures by the military and for tourism, along with a continuing lack of access to basic facilities, is putting their way of life under threat

January 9, 2023 | Ritayan Mukherjee and Ovee Thorat

In the dark: health care in Wazirithal
, and • Bandipore district, Jammu and Kashmir

In the dark: health care in Wazirithal

Pregnant women in an isolated village of Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipore district struggle with erratic power supply and poor public healthcare facilities. Their only hope is an old dai in the village

November 17, 2022 | Jigyasa Mishra

Marking Muharram in Suru valley
and • Kargil district, Jammu and Kashmir

Marking Muharram in Suru valley

The rituals of Muharram observed by Shia Muslims go on for days in Tai Suru village of Ladakh’s Kargil district. For the children, especially girls, it is a chance to meet friends and spend long hours together

August 8, 2022 | Shubhra Dixit

Vegetable trade on the Dal: in troubled waters

The floating gardens on the Dal in Kashmir supply tonnes of vegetables to the market on the lake, but with the administration moving people out of the area, farmers and traders fear for their livelihoods

April 11, 2022 | Muzamil Bhat


In locked-down Kashmir, pigeons take flight

In Kashmir valley, the arrival of summer marks the season of pigeon racing – a sport that is gaining popularity once again

October 14, 2021 | Mir Yasir Mukhtar

Srinagar’s waste-pickers: fear, faith and plastic

Srinagar city generates 500 tons of garbage every day. In addition to municipal workers, an informal workforce of waste-pickers clears a big chunk of it every day, keeping aside fears of Covid and other hazards

September 20, 2021 | Muzamil Bhat

Taking a high road from Jharkhand to Ladakh

Migrant labourers from Jharkhand and other states, who arrived in Ladakh when the second Covid-19 wave began to subside, have been building roads at altitudes of over 10,000 feet in extremely harsh conditions

September 16, 2021 | Ritayan Mukherjee

Medical help on thin ice for Dal Lake mohallas
and • Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir

Medical help on thin ice for Dal Lake mohallas

For families living on islands in Srinagar's Dal Lake, most of them farmers, labourers and in the tourism trade, a single and usually shut PHC means they must rely on local chemists who double up as 'doctors'

June 10, 2021 | Adil Rashid

Mohsin will never walk, go to school or play
, and • Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir

Mohsin will never walk, go to school or play

After moving to the remote Rakh-e-Arth resettlement colony in Srinagar, the Akhoon family has faced severe challenges in accessing healthcare for their son, who has cerebral palsy, and in finding wage work

May 6, 2021 | Kanika Gupta

Predators and pastoralists: Shangdong to stupa
and • Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir

Predators and pastoralists: Shangdong to stupa

The documentary featured here records voices of Ladakh's pastoral communities. It speaks of how, in harsh conditions, herders try to protect their livestock from wolves, and the changes in this traditional approach

November 4, 2020 | Abhijit Dutta

In Kashmir, no migrants to reap rice harvest
and • Ganderbal, Jammu and Kashmir

In Kashmir, no migrants to reap rice harvest

It's been a tough paddy harvest in Central Kashmir. Skilled migrant workers, who charge less than local labourers, were driven out by the lockdowns, and farmers here are thinking of giving up on the crop

October 29, 2020 | Muzamil Bhat

Rocking the boat in Srinagar’s Dal Lake
and • Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir

Rocking the boat in Srinagar’s Dal Lake

For the Dal Lake economy, the Covid-19 lockdown during tourist season came right after last year's Article 370 shutdown, and it has left shikarawalas, houseboat owners and shopkeepers with heavy losses and no work

October 3, 2020 | Adil Rashid

Ladakhis stuck in Covid-19 test limbo in Iran

As many as 254 Indian pilgrims from Ladakh, most of them elderly, have been stranded for over a month in the city of Qom in Iran, sparking tension at home

April 2, 2020 | Stanzin Saldon

Keeping warm with Charar-i-Sharief kangris
and • Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir

Keeping warm with Charar-i-Sharief kangris

The kangri, a wicker-covered earthen 'fire-pot' filled with charcoal embers, is in high demand during the severe winters in Kashmir, and the seasonal trade sustains artisans, farmers and labourers

January 31, 2020 | Muzamil Bhat

Withdrawal from the Valley – of another kind

When his drug habit grew, Azlan's parents brought him to the de-addiction centre in Srinagar, where growing numbers of young people are seeking help – while heroin use is spreading 'like an epidemic' in Kashmir

January 24, 2020 | Shafaq Shah
In Pulwama, a different shade of saffron
• Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir

In Pulwama, a different shade of saffron

Saffron farmers in Kashmir are facing a bleak season – an early snowfall, the restrictions imposed after Article 370 was scrapped and a shortage of labourers have hit a trade already in a slump for years

December 31, 2019 | Muzamil Bhat

Srinagar’s shikaras: still waters run deep losses

Though the government has lifted its August advisory to tourists to leave Kashmir, shikarawalas have seen few customers. The six-month tourism season sustains them all year and many are now facing a crisis

November 29, 2019 | Muzamil Bhat

No fruit of this labour: Kashmir's apple trade
and • Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir

No fruit of this labour: Kashmir's apple trade

Apple orchard owners and traders in Kashmir are facing a huge loss of income amid the uncertainty that has followed the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, which was also the start of their marketing season

November 5, 2019 | Muzamil Bhat
‘Perhaps we made the mountain god angry’
, , and • Leh, Jammu and Kashmir

‘Perhaps we made the mountain god angry’

Nomadic Changpa pastoralists at the high grazing grounds of Ladakh find their yak-related economy in a crisis that is driven by major climatic shifts in their fragile mountainous ecosystems

July 22, 2019 | Ritayan Mukherjee
Weaving the story of the pashmina shawl
and • Leh, Jammu and Kashmir

Weaving the story of the pashmina shawl

From Changthangi goats in the Tibetan Plateau to retail stores in Srinagar, the making of the pashmina shawl involves many – pastoralists, wholesalers, spinners, dyers, designers, embroiderers and entrepreneurs

May 27, 2019 | Prabir Mitra
Women who climb mountains, cross deserts
and • Leh, Jammu and Kashmir

Women who climb mountains, cross deserts

On March 8, International Women’s Day, a PARI photo essay on the remarkable women of three nomadic pastoralist communities – the Changpa of Ladakh, the Brokpa of Arunachal, and the Fakrani Jats in Kachchh

March 8, 2019 | Ritayan Mukherjee
Tosamaidan: guns, meadows, misery
and • Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir

Tosamaidan: guns, meadows, misery

After many deaths among villagers due to an army firing range, as well as ecological damage in an alpine meadow in Budgam, locals fought to ensure the army’s lease was not renewed in 2014. But problems remain

November 21, 2018 | Freny Manecksha

A museum of memories – and missiles
and • Kargil, Jammu and Kashmir

A museum of memories – and missiles

Hunderman, a remote village on the LOC in Kargil, in the crossfire between two hostile nations, has opened its history and heart to the world – its abandoned houses are now a heritage site preserving the past

February 16, 2018 | Stanzin Saldon

Creating colour like the warm light of the sun

Abdul Rashid of Srinagar, Kashmir, with seven decades of experience in the delicate art of dyeing, speaks of how his generation of dyers may be the last, and why they still continue to painstakingly tint yarn

January 18, 2018 | Jayati Saha
Pathways to the clouds driven by poverty
and • Leh, Jammu and Kashmir

Pathways to the clouds driven by poverty

Many of the labourers who build the mountainous roads in Ladakh are migrants from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand – they brave the extreme weather and risky work because of few livelihood options back home

November 3, 2017 | Ritayan Mukherjee
The Commander Heights of Kargil's economy
and • Kargil, Jammu and Kashmir

The Commander Heights of Kargil's economy

This extraordinary market in Kargil, Ladakh – where all but three shops are run  by women – has inspirational tales embedded in its origins and success

July 27, 2017 | Stanzin Saldon
'The loom is my love, my legacy'
and • Leh, Jammu and Kashmir

'The loom is my love, my legacy'

When he is not farming, Tsering Angchuk of Sneymo village in Ladakh travels with his portable loom to other villages to weave his highly-reputed signature version of a woollen fabric called ‘snamboo’

May 9, 2017 | Stanzin Saldon
The Changpas who make cashmere
and • Leh, Jammu and Kashmir

The Changpas who make cashmere

The nomadic Changpas of Hanle Valley in Ladakh herd pashmina goats, live in high-altitude pasturelands, and even retain old barter systems – but their ways of life are changing. This photo essay features Changpa Karma Rinchen's community

February 8, 2017 | Ritayan Mukherjee
Clouds of uncertainty
• Leh, Jammu and Kashmir

Clouds of uncertainty

People of the Balti community in Turtuk village, in the high-altitude Nubra Valley near the LoC, are trying to cope with the impact of major shifts in the climate, and changes in their local economy and culture

Sepetember 1, 2016 | Sweta Daga