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This work delineates the strategies and tactics employed by the Indian state through its clientele governments and patronage democracies to manage the conflicted state of Jammu and Kashmir. In the process the text unfolds the nature and functioning of the state, politics and governance in Kashmir after 1947.

A working democratic set-up provides ample space to mitigate the tensions in a society to a large extent. Unfortunately, democracy could not work in Jammu and Kashmir the way it is expected to work in a free society. Denial of democracy and misgovernance became almost an accepted way of political life in the state, which became one of the main reasons of the rise of militancy in the state. The 2011 panchayat elections provide the best opportunity to restore the confidence of the people in the democratic set-up by empowering the elected representatives in a real sense and bringing more and more people into the democratic setup. It also poses a great challenge to the government as far as fulfilling the democratic aspirations of the common people who have whole heartedly participated in this democratic exercise at the local level.

The common association of political trust, legitimacy and participation within democratic states has engaged scholars to answer questions like: what are the bases of trusting the state and its institutions? And how enculturing trust can strengthen democratic governance? In this direction, institutional trust, which is invariably linked to political legitimacy, is critical to measure the health of governance. This article reflects upon the state-centric approach to governance, by exploring the interplay of institutional trust and public legitimacy in Jammu and Kashmir. The study of the state of institutional trust, as reflected in the post-2002 empirical data, enriches the theoretical discourse on governance in a conflict region.

Digitisation of records and the subsequent implementation of e-Office 1 software in various Durbar Move 2 offices of the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has changed the concept and nature of governance significantly. With the implementation of e-Office software in various departments of the Civil Secretariat, there has been a significant impact on the governance efficiency and service delivery in the UT. The present paper attempts to understand, examine, and analyse the impact of e-Office software on the delivery of governance services in J&K. It is an endeavour to understand how the new system of e-Office enables the administrative apparatus and enables the governance to be more responsive, accountable, transparent, and citizen-friendly.