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Re-working Kashmir’s Agriculture Through Innovations and Diversity

Photo source: Ahmedabad Mirror Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst Resilience Through a Forgotten Mountain Crop Gurez Valley in north Kashmir has long been defined by its geographical isolation. The region has a short growing season as prolonged winter snowfall of nearly five months each year restricts agricultural activity. Yet these constraints have made Gurez Valley potentially suitable for cultivating buckwheat, a traditional Himalayan pseudo-cereal valued for its short maturity period, nutritional richness and a high tolerance to marginal growing conditions. While historically a staple heritage food in Gurez, buckwheat cultivation plummeted over the last few decades amid changes in food consumption, and growing availability of subsidised rice and wheat. In one of the most widely cited reviews of buckwheat improvement, Campbell (1997), writing in International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), described buckwheat as a short duration crop well adapted to marginal mountain e...
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SATAT and India’s Renewal Energy Sector

Photo source: DD India By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst  A Circular Economy Approach Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation, an initiative launched by Government of India in 2018,  marks an important shift in India’s renewal energy strategy by treating organic waste as an economic resource than an environmental burden. The initiative envisages thousands of Compressed Biogas plants converting biomass into transport grade fuel while generating organic manure as commercially valuable by product. The model embodies clear circular economy principles. Research has consistently highlighted India’s untapped potential. Writing in Energy Policy, Ravindranath and Balachandra (2009) argue that India’s vast agricultural economy generates enormous quantities of crop residue and animal waste that remain significantly underutilised, despite their considerable energy value. Likewise a 2021 report by NITI Aayog concludes that decentalised Compressed Biogas production co...
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India’s Energy Transition Amid the Regulatory Targets

By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst Photo Source: Wire Science India’s energy transition is not only about reducing carbon emissions, or expanding renewable energy. It is also about whether Indian economy can reconcile three objectives namely sustaining economic growth, strengthening energy security, and meeting high climate commitments. With time, the debate has put India part of a broader Global South dilemma. The country also presents a unique case. Instead of many advanced economies, that embarked on decarbonisation after rapid industrialisation, India is pursuing development and green transitions simultaneously. This dual challenge makes India’s case interestingly complex. The transition will also depend on whether its institutions, markets, technology, and public policy converge in long term. Historian of energy Vaclav Smil has consistently argued societies do not replace one source of energy with another. They rather transform entire eco-systems. He further postulates that ev...
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The Unsustainable AI Revolution

Photo source: The Decoder By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst  F or much of the past decade, artificial intelligence has been marketed as a technological breakthrough that would make organisations more efficient, reduce labour costs and unlock extraordinary productivity gains. The narrative was simple and compelling. Machines would assume routine tasks, businesses would operate with fewer employees and economic output would increase. Investors embraced the vision, executives repeated it and consultants built entire strategies around it. Yet as artificial intelligence moves from experimentation to large-scale deployment, a more complicated picture is emerging. The systems expected to reduce costs are themselves becoming major cost centres. Across the technology industry, companies are discovering that advanced AI requires enormous expenditures on computing infrastructure, specialised hardware, electricity and maintenance. The economics of automation are proving less straightforwa...
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Kashmir’s Glacier Melting Points Towards Serious Environmental Strains

Photo source: Kashmir Observer By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst O ver the years, research in Kashmir valley suggests that glaciers are receding at an accelerated rate. The research paper titled ‘Glacial-geomorphic study of the Thajwas Glacier Valley, Kashmir Himalayas, India,’ published by Elsevier, and authored by Reyaz Ahmad Dar, Omar Jaan, Khalid Omar Murtaza, and Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, present critical findings regarding the region's climate history and landscape evolution. The study shows that the Thajwas glacier has experienced significant recession from its maximum extent during the last glacial period due to climate warming.  Also, the study has revealed indications of small deposits of glacial debris left behind when the glacier temporarily paused during retreat, by mapping major erosional and depositional glacial landforms. The scholars concluded that the glacier is responding to regional climatic fluctuations. The findings also argue that Kashmir valley's disti...
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Sustainable Cities and India’s Urban Future

Photo source: AZoCleanTech By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst I n our world, more than half of the population now lives in cities, and the United Nations projects that this figure will reach about 68 per cent by 2050. The question is no longer whether cities should become sustainable, but how sustainability can be achieved across rapidly expanding urban areas. The answer lies not only in new technologies and smarter planning but also in ideas that are nearly two thousand years old and remain remarkably relevant. Cities such as Copenhagen, Singapore, Curitiba, Stockholm, and Freiburg demonstrate that economic growth, environmental protection, and a high quality of life can coexist, although rising living costs remain an ongoing challenge. Copenhagen's extensive cycle-track network, district heating system, and CopenHill waste-to-energy facility integrate sustainable mobility, clean energy, and public recreation. Singapore's Supertree Grove, vertical greening, and NEWater p...
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Ethanol Policy and Climate Risks Are Reshaping India's Sugar Economy

Photo source: Edhas Biofuel Refinery By Naveed Qazi, Sustainability Analyst  A s rising ethanol demand and El Nino temperature affect India’s sugarcane industry, the surplus for export is poised to likely decrease for next three seasons. Millions of tons of sugar will be off the world market, threatening supplies for importers across Asia, Africa, and Middle East. It also shows that weather risks and biofuel policies are greatly reshaping global sugar trade flows. Recently, Reuters had done interviews with over a dozen trade and industry executives, government sources, and farmers. They concluded that rising ethanol demand will leave little scope for exports for several years, prompting dealers at global houses to warn head offices of shrinking trade opportunities in India. In Indian culture, sugar is a top consumed product, mainly used in sweets and many poorer households rely on its cheap source of calories. Statistics reveal that India exported 6.8 million metric tons of sugar a...
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