Srinagar, May 23 -- In 2023 and 2024, Srinagar clocked some of its hottest days in recorded history, with temperatures rising past 35degC. That might not raise eyebrows in Delhi or Chennai, but for a high-altitude region like Kashmir, it's a seismic shift. Fields cracked open. Apple blossoms came too early, then wilted. Dal Lake, once pristine, turned warm and green with algae.

This isn't just weather. It's climate collapse in motion. The Himalayas, often called the Third Pole, are warming nearly twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Glaciers are melting faster. Rivers either flood or vanish. The natural rhythm-snow in winter, melt in spring, bloom in summer-is offbeat and unreliable now.

The hit to agriculture is direct and devastat...