The way Jammu and Kashmir has been suffering for over past six decades makes one think if there is really a curse on this ‘Paradise on Earth’. J&K’s economy is centred on horticulture, handicrafts and tourism. But corruption and misrule have spoilt the atmosphere so much that the people feel perpetually alienated from their government. This book presents a ring-side view of the reality of Kashmiri politicians, bureaucrats and the public as never seen before. Sonali Kumar, a starry-eyed young woman, joined the IAS in 1979 to make a difference to India. She chose to come to the State of Jammu and Kashmir where she spent 37 years trying to understand its people, solve their problems and focus on development. What she found there was disturbing – an apartheid regime where the humanity is divided between insiders and outsiders, where outsiders nearly become second class citizens…. She tried to make the administrative system ‘people-friendly’ but soon became a victim herself. Little did she know that her quest for development in Kashmir will become a fight against corruption, nepotism, gender bias, communalism and anti-nationalism – all mixed together. She doesn’t realise that the vested interests she had hurt, will soon hit her back, and may even cost her career, house, perks and even her happiness. Will she succeed? Or will she fail? The book will prove useful both in understanding what the bureaucrats, especially in the IAS, do in J&K and in helping frame some national policies for dealing with the administrative set-up as well as the political problems in the State.
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