Every morning Irshad Ahmad, 32, a resident of Kakapora in Pulwama dusts his bicycle and sets out for Ookhu – a village almost 2 km from his home. He works there at a unit that makes pencil slates.
Ookhu is located along the bank of Jhelum. The houses are surrounded by band-saw mills. Unlike other villages in the neighbourhood, Ookhu has a distinction: It is known as ‘pencil village’. Almost 250 households live in this dusky village.
Ahmad works there till 5 in the evening and returns home happy. “I have been working here for the last 5 years.”
There are around 3 units in this small village that manufactures slates the raw material for pencil manufacturing.
THE OLDEST UNIT
Jhelum Agro Industries is one among the three units that produces the raw material. It was the first one to be established in 2013. Before this, the unit used to process raw material in the form of logs and send it to Jammu and Chandigarh.
“We used to send logs to Hindustan Pencils,” said Manzoor Ahmad Allaie, the promoter of the Jhelum Agro Industries.
Allaie’s rise has an interesting story. Born to a timber loader Abdul Azaiz, Allie, 44, was watching his father work overtime to manage his family comprising two sons and a daughter. In 1996, Manzoor did his matriculation and a year later when the family sold a small piece of land for Rs 75,000, Manzoor insisted that the family will put up a small bandsaw unit.
Denne historien er fra November 07, 2020-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Denne historien er fra November 07, 2020-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Before The Kabul Retreat
Described as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, Afghanistan was always termed to be at peace when it was at war. But the land-locked desert country that was always in turmoil and one of the worst targets of the Great Game suffered immensely throughout, especially in the last 40 years, Masood Hussain writes
FINGERS CROSSED
Almost everybody in academia and politics that Khalid Bashir Gura spoke to, the response over Kabul happens was simple – wait and watch
Parliamentary Committee In Srinagar
The visiting 28-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs have had detailed interactions with top civil administration and discussed developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a 4-day visit. Congress leader and MP Anand Sharma is heading the committee.
MUSIC IN MUD HOUSE
Deep into north Kashmir, Faheem Mir meet a small community that sings and lives on folk music but is facing a tense situation in the last few years
THE KABUL SPILLOVER?
Security experts are divided over the possible impact of the Kabul situation on Kashmir. But the dramatic Taliban triumph has altered the region’s geopolitics, for the time being, writes Riyaz Wani
Durga Bhawan At Katra
To enhancing facilities for the convenience of the Vaishno Devi pilgrims, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation for the Durga Bhawan, a high utility pilgrim-centric facility worth Rs 24.4 crore. The facility will accommodate 4000 pilgrims.
Women Empowerment
In the first, 480 talented girls from Jammu and Kashmir were included in the degree and diploma courses of the Pragati Scholarship. Jammu and Kashmir has also got nine scholarships under the Saksham Scheme for Persons with Disabilities.
‘SOME HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT IS THE OUTCOME OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN KASHMIR STAND-OFF'
Foreign policy expert and editor of HardNews magazine, Sanjay Kapoor believes that Taliban 2.0 has more legitimacy unlike in the past as it had signed a deal with the US and negotiated with other countries of the region, but the final verdict can be passed only after it manages ticklish issues involving half of its population, the women
Boredom Is Creative?
Getting bored is not as boring as it gets, writes Azra Hussain
LG In Bangus
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Bungus Awaam Mela amidst grand arrangements for village games, exhilarating local performances, and other activities to celebrate the 75th year of Independence.
