Srinagar, Aug. 1 -- On a hot summer morning in Banpora village of Pulwama, Shugufta Bashir bends down to check her tomato plants. Her hands are covered in soil, her eyes focused.

A few years ago, she was filling out job forms and chasing interviews. Now, she runs her own farm, and makes a living from the same land her family once left idle.

"I didn't plan this," she said, standing near a sapling she planted last year. "I just knew I had to do something with my life before I lost it to waiting."

At 25, Shagufta is part of a generation of Kashmiri youth raised on degrees and deferred dreams. She holds a postgraduate degree in history and a B.Ed., credentials that once carried hope of a steady teaching post.

That hope faded after years o...