Srinagar, June 18 -- In Kralmad, a village tucked under the Pir Panjal in South Kashmir, people speak of a man who doesn't sit in offices. He builds them.

Gowhar Ahmad Mir is 36. A computer engineer by training. A contractor by profession. A local hero by default. He walks to work in dusty shoes, rolls up his sleeves, and calls his workers by name.

In a place long defined by absence-of jobs, of leaders, of plans that last-his presence is starting to change things.

"He didn't leave," said Abdul Rahim, an elderly farmer leaning against a stone wall. "That's all it took to matter here."

After earning his engineering degree, Gowhar could have gone the usual route-Srinagar, Delhi, Dubai. He stayed.

In 2010, he registered a small construct...