Here is the first day of the new year – January 1st, 2026. The celebrations, of whatever kind, people all across the world hold, may be an expression of joy and an excuse to steal some moments from compulsive schedules. But beyond that such moments can be utilised purposefully to instil a sense of introspection, and setting new goals fro life.
Making resolutions for new year may be a highly individualised act and sometimes a perfunctory thing to observe, but if new year begins with a note of hope, and a resolve to take a challenge in a positive sense, it can have a life changing impact. It is as true for individuals as is for nations, countries and the international community.
As we step into 2026, we are accompanied by long held fears. The topmost is the climate change. The way we witnessed sharp changes in weather patterns in 2025 should make us wiser and more responsible towards our environment. Climate change, far from an academic debate has now presented itself as a real, tangible and concrete shift in the weather related phenomena. We have hotter summers, colder winters; we have dry lands when it should have been a thick cover of snow. We have prolonged dry spells with diminishing rainfall. That is something scary. In Kashmir we are facing weather related shifts in a very dangerous way. That is something we all need to be very concerned about and put it as a priority responsibility area for 2026. True, we can contribute very little to the the overall phenomenon of climate change as it has planetary proportions, but making small changes in our waste management, in our approach towards water bodies, in our approach towards forests, we can make a difference to our own environment.
Another huge challenge, at the global level, would be to save this world from slipping into any violent conflagration. The way we saw Ukraine and Mid East crisis occupying 2025, the global leadership needs to work even harder to ensure that peace times return.
With the hope that we have better times ahead, and people around the globe proposer, Great Kashmir wishes all our readers a happy 2026.