Srinagar, June 20 -- How did we get here? Doctors and studies are attributing this to stress, poor diet, tobacco, drugs, and fragile healthcare, especially in rural areas. This, as a report published in this paper shows, has put many people at risk far earlier than they should be. Smoking, fried food, and the other bad lifestyle choices are the usual suspects, but experts also point out that years of conflict are also one of the critical factors. Unemployment and uncertainty have stoked anxiety. This has created a mental health crisis, a contributor to heart ailments.

Add to this a growing drug menace: an official study in 2022 found nearly 8% of Kashmiri youth hooked on opioids and hard drugs. Or, for that matter, a 2016 study by theDoc...