Srinagar, May 23 -- Shopkeepers sit idle. Taxi drivers nap in parked cars. Fruit vendors wait for buyers who don't come. Sales are down, and it's not just a bad day or a slow week. It's becoming a new normal.

Kashmir's economy, once rooted in self-reliance and steady local production, is fraying. And while political changes and flareups often make headlines, this quieter economic unraveling is just as worrying.

Across the Valley, livelihoods are shrinking, and families are feeling the squeeze.

Older generations remember a different Kashmir. Their parents and grandparents were skilled artisans, farmers, carpenters, and weavers. The region didn't just consume, it produced.

In villages and towns, people knew how to build homes, grow food...