Sixteen UPSC qualifiers. A maiden Ranji Trophy. Coding labs in Pulwama. Lavender in Jammu. The youth of Jammu and Kashmir are writing a new chapter — on their own terms, despite everything.

Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a record 16 candidates pass the UPSC Examination 2025 in a historic repeat of its 2022 peak. This milestone is marked by an inspiring tale of perseverance: a young man from a labourer’s family in Bandipora district who overcame complete blindness to secure his place among the country’s elite civil servants.

In the small village of Mirpora in Bandipora, Bashir Ahmad faced an unusual problem last month. Neighbours, relatives and strangers came to his modest home to offer congratulations, and the house ran out of space. Bashir did what others do when happiness overflows — he put up a tent in the courtyard. His son, Irfan Ahmad Lone, had cleared UPSC with All India Rank 957, a remarkable feat considering that Irfan has been totally blind since age ten. The poor family has no connections, no inherited wealth, nothing but the tenacious belief that a blind boy from a nondescript village in Bandipora could compete with the best minds in the country — and win.

A generation that chose the examination hall

Those 16 names cover entire J&K. Towseef Ahmad Ganie is from Puchal in Pulwama. Son of a daily labourer, he worked his way through veterinary college and had a job in Poonch before taking India’s toughest exam. Ritika Renu Bhan is a Kashmiri Pandit originally from Shopian in south Kashmir. Suvan Sharma, already in Indian Railway Management Service, is........

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