Dear readers,

As you are aware, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the circumstances in the post-August 5, 2019 era have cumulatively resulted in immense disruption to the business and the overall economy of Jammu & Kashmir. Generally, this has been a very difficult period for the media across the globe, including in India and Jammu & Kashmir. A weak business climate in J&K resulted in a significant dip in private advertising and subscription revenue of Ziraat Times.

As a start-up, we faced particular financial squeeze because Ziraat Times does not receive any government advertising/funding or any other public institutional support. This institution sustains on 100-per cent private business. As a gesture to ensure that our limited resources go to fund the salaries of our hard-working staff and crucial operational costs, I, personally, do not receive any salary from Ziraat Times.

In the given circumstances, we have had to curtail our normal print circulation. However, our online edition continues its operations with its ambitious 24*7 news coverage, and, thankfully, is growing in reach, engagement and impact. We are committed to expand our print circulation as soon as the financial situation would allow to do so.

At Ziraat Times, we remain committed to the principles of objectivity, diversity inclusion, independence and public interest. We try our best to avoid sensationalism, fake news, have a zero-tolerance policy for production of any graphic media content and encourage women’s visibility and engagement in the fields of entrepreneurship, business and commerce. We have a mechanism of due diligence that aims to avoid libel and slander.

At times, due to limited resources, we are unable to accommodate all the media content that we receive for publication from diverse interest groups. That omission is purely due to practical reasons of limited resources and not any policy of exclusion or editorial discretion, provided the content falls within our domain of coverage. We deeply regret that and hope that we will be able to enhance our resources very soon and expand the scope of our coverage and engagement.

It is important to reiterate here that currently Ziraat Times is consciously pursuing a business model that, we believe, is sustainable and practically feasible. We are consciously not expanding beyond our means because we want to maintain our focus on quality and our areas of immediate interest. Once the economic situation improves, we are committed to pursue our larger vision – to make Ziraat Times a major institution of this region focused on the multi-faceted matters of agriculture, business and economy.

In this situation, we deeply appreciate our readers’ valuable engagement, feedback and encouraging messages – something that we deeply value. That stands as a testimony to us that our readers trust this institution and see it adding value to their economic lives and wellbeing.

We wish to thank all our readers, once again, for their constant patronage to this institution. 

Arjimand Hussain Wani

Founder – Ziraat Times