Kashmir’s Darbar Move

Every year during the start of Winter and Summer season the Secretariat of Kashmir is shifted to Jammu in Winters and to Srinagar in Summers to avoid the harsh winter weather of the Kashmir Valley which gets cut-off with entire Nation during winters and also, to connect two different mindsets and culture of people residing in Jammu & in Kashmir Valley. The Shifting of Capital between Srinagar & Jammu is termed as ‘Darbar Move’.

History of Darbar Move:

The practice of Darbar Move was first started in 1872 by then Dogra King ‘Ranbir Singh‘ who was Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir from 1857 to 1885. Ranbir Singh organized two durbars in a day in which he heard petitions of his people.

So, it was very important for him to connect with his people in both Jammu & Kashmir which are nearly 300 km apart and in Winters the Kashmir Valley gets cutoff with Jammu due, to heavy snow which makes it nearly impossible for his people to connect with him and there was growing intolerance among the people of Jammu because of this indifference.

So, Maharaja Ranbir Singh decided to shift his capital biannually to Jammu to escape the harsh winters of the Kashmir Valley to and Since this shifting of Government between the two cities is being practiced to date.