You will find plenty of books on Kashmir by politicians, journalists, army officers, Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits narrating their experiences. BUT you will never find-an outsider IAS officer's perspective. ** The Print version in India is also called "Unmasking Kashmir: A Bureaucrat reveals." Sonali Kumar, a starry-eyed young woman, joined the IAS in 1979 to make a difference to India. She was allotted the state of Jammu & Kashmir where she spent 37 years trying to understand the people of Kashmir, solve their problems and focus on development. What she found was disturbing-an apartheid regime exists in Kashmir 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, communalism and anti-nationalism-all mixed together. She doesn't realise that the vested interests she had hurt, will soon hit back. And may even cost her career, house, perks and happiness. Will she succeed? Or will she fail? Sonali Kumar, as an outsider, brings a fresh perspective to the Kashmir problem NEVER TOLD BEFORE. The book is worth reading for anyone even remotely interested in the Kashmir problem.
Sonali Kumar: Senior IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer SONALI KUMAR was the FIRST "outsider" "non-state subject" lady IAS officer to be allotted to J&K cadre with a batch of 1979. She has thus worked in the J&K cadre for 36 and a half years and has spent another year watching events unfold as Arun Kumar, her husband, was still in the IAS there. During this period, Sonali has held in both Government of India as well as in the Government of Jammu and Kashmir assignments related to industry and commerce (including PSUs), textiles (handlooms & handicrafts), education, welfare, forests and environment, agriculture, horticulture, co-operatives, rural and urban development, health and medical education, anti-drought prone and anti-desert area development programmes, revenue, judicial, and even disaster relief operations. Her myriad experiences spanning all kinds of sectors have, she believes, equipped her with the powers of ideation, problem-solving, out-of-the-box thinking, and strategic policy insights that only a long stint in IAS probably can endow one with. This is the experience that she thinks she needed to share in the background of this constant national and international focus on the Kashmir Problem. Prasenjeet Kumar: Prasenjeet Kumar is the author of over 24 books in four genres: Fiction-Romance, motivational books for introverts (the Quiet Phoenix series), books on Self-Publishing (Self-Publishing WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME series) and cookbooks (Cooking In A Jiffy series). His books (35 titles so far) have been translated into French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese, and sell in over 50 countries. Prasenjeet is a Law graduate from the University College London (2005-2008), London University and a Philosophy Honours graduate from St. Stephen's College (2002-2005), Delhi University. In addition, he holds a Legal Practice Course (LPC) Diploma from College of Law, Bloomsbury, London, and was for a brief while, a solicitor of England and Wales. Prasenjeet is the self-taught designer, writer, editor and proud owner of the website cookinginajiffy.com which he has dedicated to his mother. He also runs another website publishwithprasen.com where he shares tips about writing and self-publishing.
