India Sees Once-Off-Limits Kashmir As Investment Frontier usnews.com

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian authorities have characterized their surprise move to strip Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status as freeing the disputed Himalayan territory from the bonds that kept it from realizing its economic potential. But the argument is flawed. The region already outperforms India on measures such as life expectancy, literacy and poverty, and its economy has been growing steadily this decade, despite frequent skirmishes between militants and security forces that have temporarily halted commercial activity.