Nasir Yousufi

Jammu and Kashmīr, New Delhi, Srinagar

Independent Journalist at Freelance

@freelancer- Bylines @ Villagesquare,The Hindu, Rural 21,Gavi, fpk,GK/cover Environment, Culture,Health, life style & livlihood.

Featured in: Favicon

thehindu.com Favicon

thebetterindia.com Favicon

gavi.org

villagesquare.in Favicon

downtoearth.org.in

Articles

An extremely important fridge: Keeping vaccines cool in remote Kashmir

Jan 27, 2025 | gavi.org | Nasir Yousufi

By the time the roosters crow for sun-up on a cold December day in Keran, a village perched on the northern frontier of India in the Himalayas, Mumtaz Ali Khan, aged 49, is already on his way back from his morning wash at a nearby water-spring. He has a busy day ahead. Khan, a health worker, is also the caretaker of an extremely important fridge.
Inside the storm: How soaring hepatitis A rates are affecting Kerala

Jul 12, 2024 | gavi.org | Nasir Yousufi

As the group of drivers were about to finish their midday meal under a thatch shade by a taxi stand in Ernakulam on a scorching day, one of them started vomiting. He broke out in severe sweating, and complained of a headache. As his condition deteriorated, he was taken to nearby health centre. By the time his primary test results were out in the evening, he had been shifted to the city’s main public hospital.
How a star’s staged death is shining the spotlight on cervical cancer in India

Mar 28, 2024 | gavi.org | Poonam Pandey |Nasir Yousufi

On the warm Friday afternoon of 2 February, 13-year-old Anjali Jain overheard a group of students from a senior class at school discussing the sudden death, from cervical cancer, of actress and internet star Poonam Pandey. Anjali was startled. It was just a few months ago that she had begun following the 32-year-old actress on Instagram, where now she saw a new post had landed: a black square of mourning, with a few lines of white text announcing the sad news. "This morning is a tough one for us.
Meet Bilquis Ara, one of Kashmir’s very best community health workers

Mar 6, 2024 | gavi.org | Nasir Yousufi

In the dead of night, an old woman knocks at the door of a village health worker and asks for a paracetamol for her pregnant daughter. Sensing – somehow – a greater risk than meets the eye, the health worker rushes to attend the patient. She checks the woman's blood pressure, and immediately sends a live location marker to the ambulance service. In less than an hour both the patient and the accompanying health worker are arriving at the district hospital.
Erratic rainfall clouds butterfly migration in Tamil Nadu

Dec 21, 2023 | villagesquare.in | Shveta Jadhav |Nasir Yousufi

On the southern edge of the Indian subcontinent, where the Western Ghats meet the Eastern Ghats in Tamil Nadu, a delicate phenomenon unfolds twice every year — butterfly migration. Beyond the known migrations of birds and fishes, this lesser-known journey of butterflies weaves a captivating narrative. Of the 250 migratory butterfly species worldwide, around 60 are found in India.
A tailor-made solution for women to stop brewing alcohol

Dec 20, 2023 | villagesquare.in | Shveta Jadhav |Nasir Yousufi |Hiren Kumar Bose

Sheela Devi was just 15 when her family got her married. She had completed her schooling the previous year.She had also learned the basics of stitching at Ursuline Convent School at Dorma village in Khunti administrative block of Jharkhand. “My husband and I were asked to leave his family home and live elsewhere. We came and settled in Pakna in 1994. And the next year, I started tailoring in order to earn a living and manage my home, though I didn’t own a machine then,” recalled Sheela.
Homestays open doors to Kashmir’s final frontier Keran

Dec 20, 2023 | villagesquare.in | Nasir Yousufi |Devashish Biswal |Roopak Goswami |Pallavi Srivastava

The two worlds collide in one here, and no one and nothing – except the leisurely sun above and the fast-flowing Kishanganga below – enjoy unrestricted access to both sides of this heavily militarised alpine woods between India and Pakistan. For decades, Keran village in Kupwara district of northern Kashmir was an impenetrable tranquil expanse – a silent witness to the intersection of nature, culture, and shared humanity along the Line of Control.
What it’s like to travel in an all-woman train

Dec 18, 2023 | villagesquare.in | Sukanya Roy |Nasir Yousufi

Most hawkers on the local trains are men, and Sumitra Debi is relatively new to this role. Hailing from Hogla village in Bengal, she previously farmed water chestnuts until it became financially unsustainable due to a subpar yield last season. This setback led Sumitra to venture into hawking. Despite earning a better income through this avenue, she keeps her part-time profession a secret from her family.
Manipuri film ‘Andro Dreams’ dribbles past gender stereotype

Dec 18, 2023 | villagesquare.in | Nasir Yousufi |Krupa Gandhi

Sports films are generally sentimental, but evacuated of real sentiments, and tend to follow the clichéd template – familiar tales of the heroic underdog player, hard-charging coach or team of misfits that somehow becomes a winner. However, Manipuri filmmaker Meena Longjam’s film “Andro Dreams” brings freshness to this genre.
Kashmir stares at a saffron sunset

Dec 18, 2023 | villagesquare.in | Nasir Yousufi |Krupa Gandhi |Shreekant Sahoo

Under the winter sun’s waning warmth, the purple hue of saffron fields in Pampore of Jammu and Kashmir reflect a contrasting picture of anticipation and anxiety. Pampore is the primary hub for saffron cultivation in the region. As autumn concludes, families engage in a race against time to harvest the crocus flowers, which bloom for just a fortnight annually. But this season’s prospects bear a disheartening truth for farmers like 62-year-old Mohammad Ismail Bhat.