Srinagar, May 22 -- Kashmir is often caught between labels. But underneath all that noise is a land with the potential to chart its own course.

We don't need to copy Delhi, Mumbai or Silicon Valley, but grow on our own terms.

We don't even need giant factories or glass towers to move forward.

All we need is to look at what we already have - apples, rivers, shawls, stories - and figure out how to grow them in ways that don't hollow out the land or its people.

Take horticulture. Apples alone make up 8% of Jammu and Kashmir's GDP. Nearly 3.5 lakh families - about 27 lakh people - depend on the fruit industry, directly or indirectly.

But most farmers still rely on traditional storage and selling methods. Only around 15% of apples go thro...