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This paper aims at presenting the findings of the study on the position of street vendors in the District Srinagar, Kashmir, in India, including both men and women, during the COVID-19 lockdown. The purpose of the study was to explore various challenges street vendors faced during the COVID-19 lockdown and to highlight the vulnerability of this particular group of informal workers. The data was collected through face-to-face interviews with the use of a questionnaire, on a sample of 150 street vendors from the District Srinagar. In addition, a certain number of in-depth interviews with selected respondents from the sample was done. The study findings show that the majority of the respondents have lost their job during the peak period of COVID-19, i.e. from March to July 2020. The findings have also revealed that the lockdown directly impacted the socio-economic conditions of the workers which made it very difficult for them to survive during the peak of COVID-19. Additionally, workers were struggling very hard in order to fulfill the basic daily needs of their families. Therefore, it is suggested that the government of India should provide financial support to street vendors in order to compensate for the loss caused due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

In India, the brick kiln industry is a huge industry employing millions of workers belonging to both rural and urban areas. Most workers in the brick kiln industry reside near the worksites in unhygienic and shabby homes, mainly made up of raw bricks. The present research was carried out on migrant workers who work in the brick kiln industry in District Budgam of Kashmir valley. It is a qualitative study carried out with the help of a focused group discussion with the workers. The study has revealed that all the workers are from Bihar and work in the brick kiln industry for six to seven months per year. All the respondents of the study with whom group discussion was done were illiterate. There are various problems associated with workers like health problems, lack of proper living space, the problem of child labour and lack of any social security support from the government. Workers in the brick kiln industry work under a very high-pressure workload especially during the peak season of construction. There is an urgent need on part of the government to frame some policies for the welfare and protection of migrant brick kiln workers. Further, employers should also provide safe living space and social security to workers.

With a steady rise in mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Kashmir, the need to address mental health in this region becomes important. This paper reports on traditional and current community mental health coping mechanisms among residents in Kashmir. Six focus group discussions (FGD) were facilitated with key informants. Data were analyzed via a thematic analytic approach. Community coping mechanisms reported include social spaces and shared chore spaces, cultural practices, shrines and religious places, faithealers. These findings demonstrate community strengths that can leverage to build additional coping strategies and resilience among people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years mental health has emerged as a major health threat in low income countries like India. In response, mental health care has been integrated into primary health care, in turn creating a rising demand for trained and skillful mental health professionals. This study was conducted in district Budgam (J&K), India with the aim of providing training to community health workers (CHWs) and measuring the change using pre- and post-training evaluations. The pre and post tests were undertaken, assessing changes in mental health literacy at three different points of time: pre-training, post-training, and three month follow-up. Mental health literacy was assessed using the interviewer-administered Mental Health Literacy Survey. The training intervention was a five-day course based on a facilitator's manual developed specifically for community health workers in India. A total of 25 community health workers from rural areas of Budgam District (mostly Integrated Child Development Service supervisors), Health Educators and Anganwadi Workers, were engaged for the study. Findings demonstrate that the training course improved participants' ability to recognize any mental health disorders. There was a clear distinction between the level of awareness pre- and post-training. The results were statistically significant on various domains Ability to recognize disorders (Pre-post P= 0.001), Knowledge of the professional help available (Pre-post p= 0.000), Attitudes that promote the recognition or appropriate help-seeking behavior (Pre-post p= 0.000) (p<0.05). Further follow up after three months was done. The mixed findings from this study, suggesting the training course has potential to improve some aspects of mental health literacy among the CHWs, including their understanding of various mental health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Families play a significant role in the development of their children. Nearly 16% of children in the industrialized world live in single‐parent households, which are mostly comprised of single mothers. Although motherhood is the most beautiful feeling a woman cherishes, this experience can be challenging when the woman has to raise their special‐needs child on her own, without the support of her spouse or partner. This study aims to understand the challenges and coping strategies of single mothers while raising their special‐needs children. To this end, in‐depth case interviews were conducted with three single mothers selected purposively from the Srinagar area in Kashmir, India. The results revealed that multiple roles and responsibilities had an adverse effect on the psychological well‐being of single mothers who had to deal with the financial burden of caring for their child's condition, including expenses for doctor visits, special therapies and medication, among other. In addition, they had to experience the social pressure and stigmatization attached to being a single mother. The most widely employed coping strategies include support from family and friends, religious faith, and self‐coping. The study recommends the creation of welfare packages like free counseling, stipend support, inclusive education, free medical treatment, and therapies for Children with Special Needs (CWSNs) and their mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The world's leading preventable cause of premature illness and death is smoking. Every year, tobacco use and smoking cause the untimely deaths of almost three million people worldwide, with one million of those deaths occurring in developing countries. Objectives: The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of smoking, knowledge about the harmful effects of smoking on health, and the influence of their family members’ smoking habits among female college-going students of the Kashmir division. Material and Methods: This is a type of cross-sectional study. A sample of 384 female college-going students was selected by a nonrandom and convenient sampling method from various colleges of the Kashmir division. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to determine the personal, social, and educational characteristics of the study participants. They were also asked about their smoking types, status, length of time they had been smoking, understanding of the negative consequences of smoking, how many cigarettes they smoked each day, and their motivations for quitting. Results: The prevalence of present smoking cigarettes was 8.3%, whereas 7.3% of the participants were previous smokers. The prevalence of present smoking was highest amongst the engineering students (16.1%) and lowest amongst the students of commerce (3.9%). The majority (68%) of the smokers’ parents were also smokers. Almost 55.9% of smokers started their smoking habit to cope with stress, and 5.1% of the participants did not know that smoking causes serious health problems. The most common factors for quitting smoking were health concerns (88.2%). Conclusion: The present study concludes that the prevalence of smoking among female college-going students varies in different faculties and that family and friends have a great influence on individuals starting or stopping smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Aadil. Bashir, Shiekh. Saleem, Maqbool. Wani, Roohi. Rasool, Irfan. Wani, Azhara. Gulnar, Sawan. Verma Introduction: Migraine is a chronic, neurovascular polygenic disease where genetic and environmental factors are involved [...]

National Rural Livelihood Mission in India was introduced with the objective of curbing the poverty and working for the upliftment and the betterment of rural pockets of India. In the context of Kashmir it is known by the name; 'Umeed'. The purpose of this paper is to understand the conceptual framework of National Rural Livelihood Mission and how it is working in the state of Jammu and Kashmir with special focus on block LAR, district Ganderbal. The study is purely qualitative in nature, the data for this purpose has been collected from both primary and secondary sources through observation and interview with different beneficiaries. The results of the study displayed the conceptual framework of NRLM in Kashmir as; mass mobilization, creation of SHG's, access to credit, financial, technical and marketing services, capacity building, upgradation of social and economic support services delivery networks. The findings also revealed that NRLM has brought hope for the poor people as it's giving them dignity, identity, wider livelihood opportunities, increased savings, access to different institutions, unity, oneness and above all empowerment. However, it was also found that there are certain gaps in the program that needs to be filled/addressed through proper mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic violence is prevalent all across the globe and victims of domestic violence have been using different approaches for seeking help against the same. The purpose of this paper is to explore the different formal and informal support for women who have experienced domestic violence in Kashmir region. Besides the barriers to disclosure and help-seeking has also been studied, considering the socio-cultural aspect of Kashmir. The study revealed that more victims have sought help through informal means rather than formal ones and there are a good proportion of women who haven't sought any help at all. Through this paper, a set of suggestions and recommendations have also been framed for the prevention and control of the domestic violence by ensuring the proper implementation of protective laws, awareness generation, gender sensitization, community involvement and collaboration between different stakeholders, Governmental and Non-governmental. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kashmir's oldest Neolithic settlement dates back to 3000 BC. It stood as the centre of Buddhism and Hinduism for centuries, till the arrival of Islam in thirteenth century. Although Muslims ruled Kashmir under different empires for about four centuries and ever since there has always been a significant Muslim populace in Kashmir with or without Muslim rule, yet the literature about the history of health care in Kashmir and particularly the history about Muslim contributions to healthcare is sparingly limited. This paper aims at a) historical contextualization of healthcare in Kashmir, b) finding Muslim rulers` contributions if any to the healthcare system and c) exploring places of healing 'shafa-khanas' in Kashmir. In order to achieve these objectives, the methods used were data collection through locating key historical resources, by searching local libraries and bookshops and searching online academic databases, thereafter, subjecting the collected data to thematic analysis. Three themes emerged during data analysis, which corresponds to the objectives of this paper, these are a) 'Historical context of healthcare in Kashmir', b) 'Muslim contributions to healthcare in Kashmir' and c) 'Places of healing 'Shafa-khanas' in Kashmir'. The analysis shows that healthcare during Muslim rule was integrative, progressive, robust, indigenous, specialized, and efficient/accommodative. We conclude that though 'shafa-khanas' existed in medieval Kashmir, there is however not much literature available.