A man shaped by history, driven by conscience, and devoted to the earth he calls home
There are men who are shaped by circumstance, and then there are men who are shaped by the storms of history itself. Anuj Kumar Verma belongs to the latter. To understand who Anuj Kumar Verma is today — the voice that resonates through the columns of leading newspapers, the conscience behind policy papers on sustainable development, the passionate guardian of Jammu & Kashmir’s fragile ecology — one must travel back to the autumn of 1947, to the banks of the sparkling Kishanganga River, to the city of Muzaffarabad, and to a family that lost everything but its will to survive. When the tribal raiders, the savage Kabailies, swept through the territories that would become Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), chaos and bloodshed consumed the region. Thousands of families were forced to flee their ancestral homelands overnight. Among them were the forebears of Anuj Kumar Verma. They left behind their homes, solid, built over generations. They left behind their fields, fertile, tended with love and labour. They left behind the pristine, singing waters of the Kishanganga, a river so beautiful it seemed nature’s own poem. They walked away empty hands, with nothing but the clothes on their backs and prayers on their lips. Their feet bled on mountain paths. They walked hundreds of kilometres, dodging violence, fleeing terror, sheltering under open skies. Families separated. Children were carried on shoulders. Elderly members were supported by the young. And through it all, they moved forward, always forward because survival demanded nothing less.
Anuj Kumar Verma grew up as a shy, introspective boy in Jammu, a city that had quietly absorbed the pain of thousands of displaced families from across the border. He was not loud. He did not demand attention. But he listened. He listened, especially, to his grandmother, the late Smt. Sita Devi, whose voice carried the weight of rivers, lost harvests, and abandoned thresholds. She spoke of Muzaffarabad as though she had left it only yesterday. She described the cool rush of the Kishanganga, the way morning light fell across the fields, the smell of fresh earth after rain. She spoke of the terror of the Kabailies, of running in darkness, of prayers uttered in desperate whispers, of the miraculous survival that brought them to safety. Her words did not simply tell stories, they planted seeds.
His father, Shri Om Prakash Verma, carried the same burden of memory with quiet dignity. Having survived the displacement as a child, Om Prakash Ji managed, despite all odds, to complete his education up to the 10th standard. It was no small feat for a boy, in those years, who had once worn sacks in place of clothes in a refugee camp, who had eaten from the mercy of relief distributions, who had grown up knowing displacement as a daily reality. Yet his resolve was unshakeable. He secured a clerical job, and through sheer discipline and self-respect, he slowly carved out a dignified life for his family. The family’s early years were spent in refugee camps. There were no privileges, no comfort, only the raw determination to survive and eventually to belong. These were people who had been kings of their own lands reduced to dependents of the state’s charity. Yet they never surrendered their dignity.
Into this story of resilience entered another remarkable soul, Smt. Nirmal Gupta, Anuj’s mother, who hailed from a local Mahajan family in Jammu. Highly educated, grounded, and deeply committed to public service, Nirmal Ji was selected as a teacher in a government school and she taught not merely as a profession, but as a calling.
Her dedication to her students and to the community did not go unnoticed. In a proud moment that the family cherishes to this day, she was conferred the Best Teacher Award by the then Governor of the State, Shri L. K. Jha, a recognition that spoke not just of academic excellence but of a life devoted to the upliftment of others.
Together, Shri Om Prakash Verma and Smt. Nirmal Gupta did what displaced families must do, they built, brick by brick, a home of their own. They raised their children not with inherited wealth, but with inherited values: honesty, hard work, love for the land, and compassion for fellow human beings.
In 1995, Anuj Kumar Verma joined government service. And it was here not in the corridors of power but in the sun-baked fields and terraced orchards of Jammu & Kashmir, that the quiet, reflective boy finally found his calling.
Coming into direct contact with the farming community was a revelation. He saw their struggles up close: agrochemicals misused in ignorance, soil losing its vitality year after year, produce fetching poor prices not because of its quality but because of the way it was grown and marketed. He saw a community that was working harder and earning less, slowly surrendering its relationship with the very earth it depended on.
Something ignited in Anuj Kumar Verma. Perhaps it was his grandmother’s voice describing the fertile fields of Muzaffarabad. Perhaps it was his father’s stories of a land once abundant and pristine. Whatever the source, a deep and abiding love for Mother Nature was born and with it, a mission.
He began guiding farmers toward sustainable agricultural practices, not just as a government official fulfilling a mandate, but as a fellow human being invested in their future. He counselled them on moving away from hazardous agrochemicals, on adopting farming techniques that preserved the soil rather than depleting it, on how to earn premium value for their produce by transforming their methods and marketing approaches. For many farming families, Anuj Verma was not merely an officer he was a trusted guide. After serving the Department for thirty long years, he finally retired as a District Officer in July 2025. His initiatives and his farmers friendly approach was well appreciated by his seniors and even by the Deputy Commissioners.
From the fields, Anuj Kumar Verma moved to the written word and his pen has since been tireless. His articles, published across leading newspapers and news portals of Jammu & Kashmir and India, carry the weight of ground-level research, policy insight, and heartfelt concern for the land and its people. Here is a selection of few of his widely read and cited works:
– From Hazardous Agrochemicals to Sustainable Agriculture — HADP: A Game Changer” (The Kashmir Magazine, August 2026)
– Can Jammu and Kashmir’s Mountains Survive Unchecked Development?”(Kashmir Life, August 2026)
– Bring Forgotten Valleys Too Under Development Ambit”(Daily Excelsior, August 2026)
– “Rivers of Wrath — Repeated Flood Tragedy Demands Urgent Action” (Daily Excelsior, July 2026)
– Back to Roots or Slow Poison? J&K at Crossroads on Farming Reforms” (State Times & KNS Kashmir, July 2026)
– Concrete Dreams, Vanishing Peaks: The Human Cost of Development in J&K” (Precious Kashmir & KNS Kashmir, July 2026)
– “The Dying Rivers of Jammu & Kashmir: A Crisis of Conscience and Governance” (July 2026)
– “Milk Adulteration Crisis in India: A Silent Poison on Your Plate” (July 2026)
– “Chemical Pesticides — The Silent Killer! EU Banned Agrochemicals in Use in J&K Orchards & Fields (June 2026)
– “Rethinking Pesticide Use in J&K Before It’s Too Late” (June 2026)
– “J&K Rivers: Victim of Government Apathy and Human Greed” (June 2026)
– “Environmental Impact of Ring Road Construction in J&K”** (June 2026)
– Environmental Health Crisis in J&K — The Surge in Kidney Disease and Cancer”(June 2026)
– “Single Use Plastic Choking Our Planet” (December 2020)
– “Save Our Water Bodies — Part 1 & Part 2” (November 2020)
– “People’s Responsibility is Imperative to Save Environment” (October 2020)
– “Unscheduled and Excessive Sprays of Chemicals in Agricultural Fields — Time to Act” (August 2020)
– “Towards Atmanirbhar Bharat (July 2020)
– “World Environment Day 2020 — Challenges” (June 2020)
Each article is not merely an opinion, it is advocacy backed by evidence, a call to action rooted in deep empathy for the land, the farmer, and the future.
Then came the pandemic. In 2020, when COVID-19 descended on the world like a dark curtain, millions were left vulnerable, the poor, the elderly, the daily wage labourers, migrant workers stranded far from home, sanitation workers braving the invisible enemy every single day.
Anuj Kumar Verma, as Organising Secretary of the We The Humans Forum for Nature and Mankind, a Public Charitable Trust, rallied a team of compassionate, philanthropic-minded individuals and led one of the most sustained community relief efforts in the Jammu region.
Under the able chairmanship of Shri K. Y. S. Manhas, Principal District and Session Judge (Retd.), Capt. Lalit Sharma IFS Retd APCCF, S. Prem Singh, Mrs Pooja Gupta, Mr. Rajan Vohra, Mr. Prashant Charak, S. Ajab Singh, S. Sukhdev Singh, Mrs Shilpa Mahajan and in close coordination with district police and administrative authorities, the Forum rose magnificently to the moment:
Approximately 300 quintals of ration were distributed among families in distress;
Over 3,000 COVID Hygiene Kits were provided to vulnerable households; More than 50 awareness camps were organized across the region; Warm blankets were distributed during extreme cold; Sewing machines were provided to empower needy women with livelihood tools; Relief operations extended across Jammu, Samba, Udhampur, Kathua, and Doda districts.
This was selfless service in its purest form, no cameras sought, no credit chased. Just human beings caring for human beings, driven by the belief that in a crisis, no one should be left behind.
Today, Anuj Kumar Verma stands as one of the most credible, committed, and impactful environment advocates and policy writers in Jammu & Kashmir. His concerns span the full spectrum of the ecological and agricultural crisis facing the region:
– Safe food and sustainable farming, fighting against EU-banned pesticides still rampant in J&K’s orchards and fields
– Dying rivers and encroached water bodies, raising alarm about the degradation of the Tawi, Jehlum Chenab, and other life-giving rivers
– Single-use plastics, campaigning persistently for bans and awareness
– Air pollution, documenting its devastating health impacts on communities
– Deforestation, advocating for native species plantation and forest protection
– Melting glaciers and rising temperatures, calling for urgent policy intervention
– Flood tragedies, demanding accountability for riverbank encroachments and illegal mining
– Development vs. ecology, insisting that J&K’s growth must be in harmony with its mountains, rivers, and biodiversity
His vision is captured in a simple but powerful philosophy: J&K must develop and grow, but not at the cost of the very nature that makes it divine. Infrastructure must coexist with ecology.
Anuj Kumar Verma grew up as a shy, introspective boy in Jammu, a city that had quietly absorbed the pain of thousands of displaced families from across the border. He was not loud. He did not demand attention. But he listened. He listened, especially, to his grandmother, the late Smt. Sita Devi, whose voice carried the weight of rivers, lost harvests, and abandoned thresholds. She spoke of Muzaffarabad as though she had left it only yesterday. She described the cool rush of the Kishanganga, the way morning light fell across the fields, the smell of fresh earth after rain. She spoke of the terror of the Kabailies, of running in darkness, of prayers uttered in desperate whispers, of the miraculous survival that brought them to safety. Her words did not simply tell stories, they planted seeds.
His father, Shri Om Prakash Verma, carried the same burden of memory with quiet dignity. Having survived the displacement as a child, Om Prakash Ji managed, despite all odds, to complete his education up to the 10th standard. It was no small feat for a boy, in those years, who had once worn sacks in place of clothes in a refugee camp, who had eaten from the mercy of relief distributions, who had grown up knowing displacement as a daily reality. Yet his resolve was unshakeable. He secured a clerical job, and through sheer discipline and self-respect, he slowly carved out a dignified life for his family. The family’s early years were spent in refugee camps. There were no privileges, no comfort, only the raw determination to survive and eventually to belong. These were people who had been kings of their own lands reduced to dependents of the state’s charity. Yet they never surrendered their dignity.
Into this story of resilience entered another remarkable soul, Smt. Nirmal Gupta, Anuj’s mother, who hailed from a local Mahajan family in Jammu. Highly educated, grounded, and deeply committed to public service, Nirmal Ji was selected as a teacher in a government school and she taught not merely as a profession, but as a calling.
Her dedication to her students and to the community did not go unnoticed. In a proud moment that the family cherishes to this day, she was conferred the Best Teacher Award by the then Governor of the State, Shri L. K. Jha, a recognition that spoke not just of academic excellence but of a life devoted to the upliftment of others.
Together, Shri Om Prakash Verma and Smt. Nirmal Gupta did what displaced families must do, they built, brick by brick, a home of their own. They raised their children not with inherited wealth, but with inherited values: honesty, hard work, love for the land, and compassion for fellow human beings.
In 1995, Anuj Kumar Verma joined government service. And it was here not in the corridors of power but in the sun-baked fields and terraced orchards of Jammu & Kashmir, that the quiet, reflective boy finally found his calling.
Coming into direct contact with the farming community was a revelation. He saw their struggles up close: agrochemicals misused in ignorance, soil losing its vitality year after year, produce fetching poor prices not because of its quality but because of the way it was grown and marketed. He saw a community that was working harder and earning less, slowly surrendering its relationship with the very earth it depended on.
Something ignited in Anuj Kumar Verma. Perhaps it was his grandmother’s voice describing the fertile fields of Muzaffarabad. Perhaps it was his father’s stories of a land once abundant and pristine. Whatever the source, a deep and abiding love for Mother Nature was born and with it, a mission.
He began guiding farmers toward sustainable agricultural practices, not just as a government official fulfilling a mandate, but as a fellow human being invested in their future. He counselled them on moving away from hazardous agrochemicals, on adopting farming techniques that preserved the soil rather than depleting it, on how to earn premium value for their produce by transforming their methods and marketing approaches. For many farming families, Anuj Verma was not merely an officer he was a trusted guide. After serving the Department for thirty long years, he finally retired as a District Officer in July 2025. His initiatives and his farmers friendly approach was well appreciated by his seniors and even by the Deputy Commissioners.
From the fields, Anuj Kumar Verma moved to the written word and his pen has since been tireless. His articles, published across leading newspapers and news portals of Jammu & Kashmir and India, carry the weight of ground-level research, policy insight, and heartfelt concern for the land and its people. Here is a selection of few of his widely read and cited works:
– From Hazardous Agrochemicals to Sustainable Agriculture — HADP: A Game Changer” (The Kashmir Magazine, August 2026)
– Can Jammu and Kashmir’s Mountains Survive Unchecked Development?”(Kashmir Life, August 2026)
– Bring Forgotten Valleys Too Under Development Ambit”(Daily Excelsior, August 2026)
– “Rivers of Wrath — Repeated Flood Tragedy Demands Urgent Action” (Daily Excelsior, July 2026)
– Back to Roots or Slow Poison? J&K at Crossroads on Farming Reforms” (State Times & KNS Kashmir, July 2026)
– Concrete Dreams, Vanishing Peaks: The Human Cost of Development in J&K” (Precious Kashmir & KNS Kashmir, July 2026)
– “The Dying Rivers of Jammu & Kashmir: A Crisis of Conscience and Governance” (July 2026)
– “Milk Adulteration Crisis in India: A Silent Poison on Your Plate” (July 2026)
– “Chemical Pesticides — The Silent Killer! EU Banned Agrochemicals in Use in J&K Orchards & Fields (June 2026)
– “Rethinking Pesticide Use in J&K Before It’s Too Late” (June 2026)
– “J&K Rivers: Victim of Government Apathy and Human Greed” (June 2026)
– “Environmental Impact of Ring Road Construction in J&K”** (June 2026)
– Environmental Health Crisis in J&K — The Surge in Kidney Disease and Cancer”(June 2026)
– “Single Use Plastic Choking Our Planet” (December 2020)
– “Save Our Water Bodies — Part 1 & Part 2” (November 2020)
– “People’s Responsibility is Imperative to Save Environment” (October 2020)
– “Unscheduled and Excessive Sprays of Chemicals in Agricultural Fields — Time to Act” (August 2020)
– “Towards Atmanirbhar Bharat (July 2020)
– “World Environment Day 2020 — Challenges” (June 2020)
Each article is not merely an opinion, it is advocacy backed by evidence, a call to action rooted in deep empathy for the land, the farmer, and the future.
Then came the pandemic. In 2020, when COVID-19 descended on the world like a dark curtain, millions were left vulnerable, the poor, the elderly, the daily wage labourers, migrant workers stranded far from home, sanitation workers braving the invisible enemy every single day.
Anuj Kumar Verma, as Organising Secretary of the We The Humans Forum for Nature and Mankind, a Public Charitable Trust, rallied a team of compassionate, philanthropic-minded individuals and led one of the most sustained community relief efforts in the Jammu region.
Under the able chairmanship of Shri K. Y. S. Manhas, Principal District and Session Judge (Retd.), Capt. Lalit Sharma IFS Retd APCCF, S. Prem Singh, Mrs Pooja Gupta, Mr. Rajan Vohra, Mr. Prashant Charak, S. Ajab Singh, S. Sukhdev Singh, Mrs Shilpa Mahajan and in close coordination with district police and administrative authorities, the Forum rose magnificently to the moment:
Approximately 300 quintals of ration were distributed among families in distress;
Over 3,000 COVID Hygiene Kits were provided to vulnerable households; More than 50 awareness camps were organized across the region; Warm blankets were distributed during extreme cold; Sewing machines were provided to empower needy women with livelihood tools; Relief operations extended across Jammu, Samba, Udhampur, Kathua, and Doda districts.
This was selfless service in its purest form, no cameras sought, no credit chased. Just human beings caring for human beings, driven by the belief that in a crisis, no one should be left behind.
Today, Anuj Kumar Verma stands as one of the most credible, committed, and impactful environment advocates and policy writers in Jammu & Kashmir. His concerns span the full spectrum of the ecological and agricultural crisis facing the region:
– Safe food and sustainable farming, fighting against EU-banned pesticides still rampant in J&K’s orchards and fields
– Dying rivers and encroached water bodies, raising alarm about the degradation of the Tawi, Jehlum Chenab, and other life-giving rivers
– Single-use plastics, campaigning persistently for bans and awareness
– Air pollution, documenting its devastating health impacts on communities
– Deforestation, advocating for native species plantation and forest protection
– Melting glaciers and rising temperatures, calling for urgent policy intervention
– Flood tragedies, demanding accountability for riverbank encroachments and illegal mining
– Development vs. ecology, insisting that J&K’s growth must be in harmony with its mountains, rivers, and biodiversity
His vision is captured in a simple but powerful philosophy: J&K must develop and grow, but not at the cost of the very nature that makes it divine. Infrastructure must coexist with ecology.
