Shakeel-ur-Rehman has an interesting idea
(Syed Shakeel-ul-Rehman, 32, was born in Qazipora, Tangmarg. He did his schooling at the Government Middle School in Katipora and at the Government Higher Secondary School in Chandilora, both in the Tangmarg Tehsil. He graduated in Social Work from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), being the first Kashmiri student to graduate with that major. He subsequently did his post graduate diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication from the same University. He has taken specialized courses in computer hardware and software technology. He worked as a columnist and correspondent for the Greater Kashmir daily newspaper until 2005 and is currently the Opinion Editor of the Kashmir Images daily newspaper. He also anchors Doordharshan Kendra Srinagar's live phone-in show called, "Hello DD" since April 2005. Mr. Shakeel-ur-Rehman holds the distinction of having interviewed prominent personalities in all major fields and walks of life, probably more than any other Kashmiri journalist.)
Ideal Industries
Kashmir is industrially starved. This makes private investment on large scale crucial for the state. It is no secret that when it comes to investment, the Valley is unlikely to get big investments in industrial sector given its agro-climatic conditions.
This makes it imperative on our part to focus on small and medium scale industries. And it is this sector which the state should promote.
As far as small scale industrial sector is concerned, the state had not long ago a monopoly in the sector. But due to lack of governmental support coupled with the prevalent situation in the state, this sector suffered enormously. Such is the condition of those associated with the sector that hardly anyone else would like to venture into the field.
But since small scale industries are suited for Kashmir and the state has requisite manpower acquainted with the trade practices, it would be really good if the government took the sector seriously and the captains of Indian industry too did their bit by investing in this sector where chances of growth are huge.
As a matter of fact, the small scale enterprises have to date contributed substantially to the growth of the state economy. The small scale enterprises can be grouped into three categories viz; cottage industries, agro based industries and small scale industries. Cottage industries and agro-based industries being agriculture based have a huge scope in the state.
Although these segments of industry generate foreign exchange through exports, help preserve the ancient and traditional skills of the rural artisans and prevent their migration to the urban areas, they suffer from various problems like non-availability of credit and finance, difficulties in marketing their products, in procuring raw materials etc.
In the context of Kashmir cottage and agro-based industries are important. This is because they are broadly associated with the processing of agricultural produce. Being agriculture based they generate part time and whole time occupations in rural and semi urban areas.
Cottage industries and agro-based industries work independently while the small scale industries are technically and economically dependent on the large scale sector. This limits the scope of the latter in Kashmir. But if the Indian industry majors come forward chances of growth in the small scale sector would zoom.
In a place like Kashmir where the incidents of unemployment, underemployment, and seasonal employment are high and where capital cannot be mobilized on a massive scale to industrialize rapidly, SSI’s would generate large employment opportunities.
The plus point with this type of industry is that it can be established in any part of the state and can create work for the unemployed, more work for the underemployed and supplementary work for the seasonally employed in the rural sector.
Although there is enough scope for the small scale industries in the state, these have been bogged down by myriad problems, the foremost being the non-availability of credit and finance, both long term and short term. Besides, the material resources are small and the industries suffer from instability of profits which deter banks from giving loans. But if the government and industry majors come forward things would doubtless take a better turn.
Introduction to KashmirForum.org Blog
Monday, July 13, 2009
Development is Freedonm
Sajjad discusses the role and importance of the regional rural bank, called the Grarameen Bank, in Kashmir's future development
(Mr. Sajjad Bazaz, 45, was born in Srinagar. He attended the Khalsa high school and the Sri Pratap College in Srinagar. He received his bachelor's degree in Media and his master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University of Kashmir. Mr. Bazaz has over two decades of experience in journalism (both print & electronic), and he is author of the book "Bankwatch" which is about a financial scenario with particular reference to the J&K state. He is currently incharge of corporate communications department in a leaduing financial instution in J&K. Mr. Bazaz likes to spend leisure time watching movies and enjoying company of his friends.)
J&K Grameen Bank
The Kashmir conflict being one of the most staggering conflicts and its persistence involving two nuclear powers needs no introduction. Besides, the economic cost of the conflict cannot be confined to a particular sector of economy, as it has affected the important sources of livelihood of common people. Besides exacting extensive damage to the infrastructure of the state, the conflict has discouraged private investment and pushed the economy towards stagnation. Precisely, in this gruesome scenario it is the common people who suffer the most. However, this needs to be realized that even in conflict situation like the one prevailing here, development programmes must go on.
Economic development of the state cannot be overlooked without intruding on political consequences of the conflict. It is also a fact that the Kashmir imbroglio cannot be resolved only by means of economic development, but there is no fun to oppose or stagnate vibrant economic growth which is only for the betterment of the lives of the people.
Here I quote the theory of “development as freedom” by Amartya Sen in which he argues that development and freedom are intimately related. Freedom is both constitutive of development and instrumental to it. Amartya Sen delineates five freedoms that are needed to bring true development: political freedoms; economic facilities; social opportunities; transparency guarantees; and protective security. Based on this premise, any economic underdevelopment amounts to lack of freedom. In the context of Kashmir situation, all kinds of freedoms that are both “means and ends of development” are under constant threat for the past two decades.
Violence has also directly affected other important sources of livelihood such as agriculture, horticulture, and the handicraft industry. The J&K state is known for wide variety of agricultural and horticulture products. However, the conflict environment has prevented from maximally tapping the potential of these sectors. Precisely, here overall suppressed economic development needs energetic efforts from all relevant sources to put all engines of growth back on the track.
On economic front, one of the major developments, which took place in J&K State last week didn’t get much attention was formation of a new regional rural bank – J&K Grameen Bank. The new bank carved out through merger of Kamraz Rural Bank and Jammu Rural Bank - sponsored by J&K Bank – began its operations from July 1, 2009. The area of operation of J&K Grameen Bank with 172 branches has the combined area of operation of the amalgamated Regional Rural Banks.
Even as the Regional Rural Banks have a major role to revolutionise the rural economy by way of providing adequate financial support to different sectors of rural economy, the performance of these has so far remained dismal. The erstwhile Kamraz Rural Bank and Jammu Rural Bank had advanced Rs.357 crores against their total deposits of Rs.1091 crores, thereby registered a poor Credit - Deposit ratio of just 33 per cent (approximately) as on December 31, 2008.
The new Regional Rural Bank - J&K Grameen Bank – has a huge challenge of revolutionising the rural economy of the state, which, so far, has not been realised to its potential. Agriculture, horticulture and the handicrafts sectors have become the survival mechanisms for the most of the people in the state, but the prevailing situation has not allowed these sectors to flourish. Precisely, the conflict situation here continues at a huge economic cost and under these circumstances the strategic positioning of the Grameen Bank to give boost to agriculture and allied activities, and other sectors of rural economy in its area of operation is need of the hour. It has to pull the sources of livelihood of people associated with tourism, agriculture, handicrafts industries etc out of stagnation. Otherwise it would be old wine in new bottle.
The first and foremost thing is to customize products and services suiting the rural economy. For example, It can lend a huge support to preserve and promote the traditional arts and crafts of the state by financing the people engaged in making shawls, silk carpets, rugs, embroidered clothes, silver-work, papier-mâché work, wood-carving, silk-weaving etc. It can even tailor a financial product for artisans associated with ancient art of stone carving, who, so far, have remained outside the ambit of formal financing. This is an area in which Kashmir has its own niche and could be tapped through formal financing.
Kashmir’s economy is highly dependent on agriculture, supporting about 70 per cent of its population. The horticulture industry in Kashmir is considered the bulwark of rural economy in the state. Nearly 75 per cent of temperate fruits in India are grown in the state. The cultivated orchards yield fine quality of pears, apples, peaches, cherries, walnut, almond, saffron, apricot, strawberry, plums, etc. These sectors provide job facilities for the thousands of people directly and indirectly. Considering the growth prospects of this sector, the new regional rural bank needs to reposition itself by providing timely and adequate finances to the farmers.
The Grameen Bank can play an effective role in tapping the potential in Sericulture, fisheries, floriculture, medicinal and aromatic plants, mushroom production, and apiculture. Sericulture is a traditional occupation for a large section of the population engaged in the extraction of silk fiber. But, today the industry is not enjoying glory due to inadequate infrastructural and agricultural inputs. In fisheries sector, according to an estimate, the 27,781 km of rivers and streams in the state could provide the facility for the farming of over 40 million tons of fish. If figures are to be believed then the right strategy cannot only cater to the local demands but will also enable the state to export.
Take the case of animal husbandry with a large livestock in form of cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, etc. The huge gap between the demand and supply in terms of meat consumption compels the state to purchase the same from other parts of the country. The state provides a suitable climate for cattle breeding and it should be used sufficiently. Tailor made financial products for sheep farming can go a long way in encouraging local farmers to establish their units in the sector. Besides, dairy development too has a vast scope which needs formal financing at the grass root level.
In succinct, the new Regional Rural Bank can prove as one of the instruments of change as far as tapping the potential of rural economy is concerned. Let it be a bank of villages, as it is the time to unearth the state’s economic potential for a durable peace, prosperity and profits for all.
(Mr. Sajjad Bazaz, 45, was born in Srinagar. He attended the Khalsa high school and the Sri Pratap College in Srinagar. He received his bachelor's degree in Media and his master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University of Kashmir. Mr. Bazaz has over two decades of experience in journalism (both print & electronic), and he is author of the book "Bankwatch" which is about a financial scenario with particular reference to the J&K state. He is currently incharge of corporate communications department in a leaduing financial instution in J&K. Mr. Bazaz likes to spend leisure time watching movies and enjoying company of his friends.)
J&K Grameen Bank
The Kashmir conflict being one of the most staggering conflicts and its persistence involving two nuclear powers needs no introduction. Besides, the economic cost of the conflict cannot be confined to a particular sector of economy, as it has affected the important sources of livelihood of common people. Besides exacting extensive damage to the infrastructure of the state, the conflict has discouraged private investment and pushed the economy towards stagnation. Precisely, in this gruesome scenario it is the common people who suffer the most. However, this needs to be realized that even in conflict situation like the one prevailing here, development programmes must go on.
Economic development of the state cannot be overlooked without intruding on political consequences of the conflict. It is also a fact that the Kashmir imbroglio cannot be resolved only by means of economic development, but there is no fun to oppose or stagnate vibrant economic growth which is only for the betterment of the lives of the people.
Here I quote the theory of “development as freedom” by Amartya Sen in which he argues that development and freedom are intimately related. Freedom is both constitutive of development and instrumental to it. Amartya Sen delineates five freedoms that are needed to bring true development: political freedoms; economic facilities; social opportunities; transparency guarantees; and protective security. Based on this premise, any economic underdevelopment amounts to lack of freedom. In the context of Kashmir situation, all kinds of freedoms that are both “means and ends of development” are under constant threat for the past two decades.
Violence has also directly affected other important sources of livelihood such as agriculture, horticulture, and the handicraft industry. The J&K state is known for wide variety of agricultural and horticulture products. However, the conflict environment has prevented from maximally tapping the potential of these sectors. Precisely, here overall suppressed economic development needs energetic efforts from all relevant sources to put all engines of growth back on the track.
On economic front, one of the major developments, which took place in J&K State last week didn’t get much attention was formation of a new regional rural bank – J&K Grameen Bank. The new bank carved out through merger of Kamraz Rural Bank and Jammu Rural Bank - sponsored by J&K Bank – began its operations from July 1, 2009. The area of operation of J&K Grameen Bank with 172 branches has the combined area of operation of the amalgamated Regional Rural Banks.
Even as the Regional Rural Banks have a major role to revolutionise the rural economy by way of providing adequate financial support to different sectors of rural economy, the performance of these has so far remained dismal. The erstwhile Kamraz Rural Bank and Jammu Rural Bank had advanced Rs.357 crores against their total deposits of Rs.1091 crores, thereby registered a poor Credit - Deposit ratio of just 33 per cent (approximately) as on December 31, 2008.
The new Regional Rural Bank - J&K Grameen Bank – has a huge challenge of revolutionising the rural economy of the state, which, so far, has not been realised to its potential. Agriculture, horticulture and the handicrafts sectors have become the survival mechanisms for the most of the people in the state, but the prevailing situation has not allowed these sectors to flourish. Precisely, the conflict situation here continues at a huge economic cost and under these circumstances the strategic positioning of the Grameen Bank to give boost to agriculture and allied activities, and other sectors of rural economy in its area of operation is need of the hour. It has to pull the sources of livelihood of people associated with tourism, agriculture, handicrafts industries etc out of stagnation. Otherwise it would be old wine in new bottle.
The first and foremost thing is to customize products and services suiting the rural economy. For example, It can lend a huge support to preserve and promote the traditional arts and crafts of the state by financing the people engaged in making shawls, silk carpets, rugs, embroidered clothes, silver-work, papier-mâché work, wood-carving, silk-weaving etc. It can even tailor a financial product for artisans associated with ancient art of stone carving, who, so far, have remained outside the ambit of formal financing. This is an area in which Kashmir has its own niche and could be tapped through formal financing.
Kashmir’s economy is highly dependent on agriculture, supporting about 70 per cent of its population. The horticulture industry in Kashmir is considered the bulwark of rural economy in the state. Nearly 75 per cent of temperate fruits in India are grown in the state. The cultivated orchards yield fine quality of pears, apples, peaches, cherries, walnut, almond, saffron, apricot, strawberry, plums, etc. These sectors provide job facilities for the thousands of people directly and indirectly. Considering the growth prospects of this sector, the new regional rural bank needs to reposition itself by providing timely and adequate finances to the farmers.
The Grameen Bank can play an effective role in tapping the potential in Sericulture, fisheries, floriculture, medicinal and aromatic plants, mushroom production, and apiculture. Sericulture is a traditional occupation for a large section of the population engaged in the extraction of silk fiber. But, today the industry is not enjoying glory due to inadequate infrastructural and agricultural inputs. In fisheries sector, according to an estimate, the 27,781 km of rivers and streams in the state could provide the facility for the farming of over 40 million tons of fish. If figures are to be believed then the right strategy cannot only cater to the local demands but will also enable the state to export.
Take the case of animal husbandry with a large livestock in form of cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, etc. The huge gap between the demand and supply in terms of meat consumption compels the state to purchase the same from other parts of the country. The state provides a suitable climate for cattle breeding and it should be used sufficiently. Tailor made financial products for sheep farming can go a long way in encouraging local farmers to establish their units in the sector. Besides, dairy development too has a vast scope which needs formal financing at the grass root level.
In succinct, the new Regional Rural Bank can prove as one of the instruments of change as far as tapping the potential of rural economy is concerned. Let it be a bank of villages, as it is the time to unearth the state’s economic potential for a durable peace, prosperity and profits for all.
Charting a Shaky Course in Kashmir
Afshana records the moment when Kashmir lost its moral compass and the society began to reap what it had sowed
(Ms. Syeda Afshana, 35, was born in Srinagar. She attended the Vishwa Bharti High School in Rainawari, Srinagar, and the Government Women's College in Srinagar where she received a B.Sc. degree. She completed her Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Kashmir University in 1999 and was the Gold Medallist (first position holder) in her graduating class. She is currently a Lecturer in the Media Education Research Centre (MERC) of the Kashmir University and pursuing her doctorate on the role of internet after 9/11.)
A Sad Tale
The shadowy killings continue. The sly onslaught on women persists. The strange disorder and disturbance is prolonging. The strife in Kashmir is taking worst shape.
With every passing day, things over here are getting shrouded in mysteries. A kind of sinister and spiteful atmosphere is engulfing Kashmir. Today, the furtively crafty nature of happenings makes Kashmir different from the years of conflict gone by. This wasn’t so in 1990’s as the conflict was extending its scope and reach, besides associated violence taking its silent toll. The killer and the killed were identifiable. The events were scary but not surreptitious.
What exactly has happened during these two decades? The dynamics of conflict, of course, have changed with the alteration in power equations at the subcontinent and international level. The players of this conflict are malformed entities now, struggling to stay stoutly alive among the array of nation-states.
Pakistan, the so-called moral supporter of Kashmir cause, is battling the survival game with colossal hands of violence hell-bent to knock down its pillars. India, the so-called emerging superpower, is hassled by the rising fanaticism out to break the cornerstone of its secular ideology of which Kashmir remains a formidable symbol.
The people of Kashmir, as a party to this conflict, are left out as a dejected lot whose material and moral has got impaired over these years. Perhaps the intense fallouts of conflict, deviously engineered by the opponent, have crippled them in every aspect. From political to socio-economic decisions, they have lost their say. It can be said that their opponent has smartly complicated the contours of conflict in a way which has succored in rendering them feeble and perplexed. Inevitably, their control over the situation got snatched gradually. As of now, they have been reduced to puppets, whose strings are pulled up by unknown and obscure forces.
All the same, it would be unfair to blame conflict for all the ailments the Kashmiris’ are afflicted with. Conflict can be partly blamed for shattering and spoiling the fabric of this society. However, the indigenous character of this land is equally responsible for making things come to such a passé. The strength of national character is expected to wrangle with the awful offshoots of conflict boldly. The opponent inescapably wrestles in whitewash, as such. But, it was not to be so. The collapse of the adversary did not take place; the trouncing of the national character but did.
The fact is that the thought system in Kashmir over the years has undergone a gross transformation. The kind of thought revolution, as envisaged in any form of resistance, couldn’t trigger here. Consequentially, the things and concepts which were unacceptable to the society some years back, have gained currency. The culture of permissiveness has purposely been nurtured.
There are unusual ripples around to comprehend. The growing criminalization and lumpenization has thrown up many uncomfortable questions. The warning bells have started ringing. If all that which is happening in Kashmir right now isn’t stopped, a strange wipe out will overtake the population. The tentacles of consumerism and hedonistic hang-ups have already snarled up our generation next. They have become the most vulnerable group.
And with Kashmir becoming a den of inscrutability and obscurity, akin to a horrific whodunit, the entire framework of this society is under an appalling threat. The ambience, in which Divine intervention takes place, has been absolutely destroyed. The godless milieu has left no scope for any such aid coming our way.
Mere sloganeering has duped us. And, in the long run as well, it won’t lead us anywhere at all. All the sections of society, especially political leaders and religious scholars, have not been able to inspire anyone. Most of them have turned self-indulgent and materialistic. The need of self-introspection; the stress on individual reform; and simple honesty in our dealings has been utterly negated.
The cost of resistance cannot be measured in dying ethos of any society. The call for freedom is okay until the moral health of any nation remains sound. Once the moral health deteriorates and starts stinking obnoxiously, there is a dire need to rethink and reorient the strategy of yelling out for ‘promising demand’. The insanity of sorts cannot hang on to any type of cherished freedom. On the contrary, it can lead to a catastrophe. The sooner we recognize it, the better.
(Ms. Syeda Afshana, 35, was born in Srinagar. She attended the Vishwa Bharti High School in Rainawari, Srinagar, and the Government Women's College in Srinagar where she received a B.Sc. degree. She completed her Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Kashmir University in 1999 and was the Gold Medallist (first position holder) in her graduating class. She is currently a Lecturer in the Media Education Research Centre (MERC) of the Kashmir University and pursuing her doctorate on the role of internet after 9/11.)
A Sad Tale
The shadowy killings continue. The sly onslaught on women persists. The strange disorder and disturbance is prolonging. The strife in Kashmir is taking worst shape.
With every passing day, things over here are getting shrouded in mysteries. A kind of sinister and spiteful atmosphere is engulfing Kashmir. Today, the furtively crafty nature of happenings makes Kashmir different from the years of conflict gone by. This wasn’t so in 1990’s as the conflict was extending its scope and reach, besides associated violence taking its silent toll. The killer and the killed were identifiable. The events were scary but not surreptitious.
What exactly has happened during these two decades? The dynamics of conflict, of course, have changed with the alteration in power equations at the subcontinent and international level. The players of this conflict are malformed entities now, struggling to stay stoutly alive among the array of nation-states.
Pakistan, the so-called moral supporter of Kashmir cause, is battling the survival game with colossal hands of violence hell-bent to knock down its pillars. India, the so-called emerging superpower, is hassled by the rising fanaticism out to break the cornerstone of its secular ideology of which Kashmir remains a formidable symbol.
The people of Kashmir, as a party to this conflict, are left out as a dejected lot whose material and moral has got impaired over these years. Perhaps the intense fallouts of conflict, deviously engineered by the opponent, have crippled them in every aspect. From political to socio-economic decisions, they have lost their say. It can be said that their opponent has smartly complicated the contours of conflict in a way which has succored in rendering them feeble and perplexed. Inevitably, their control over the situation got snatched gradually. As of now, they have been reduced to puppets, whose strings are pulled up by unknown and obscure forces.
All the same, it would be unfair to blame conflict for all the ailments the Kashmiris’ are afflicted with. Conflict can be partly blamed for shattering and spoiling the fabric of this society. However, the indigenous character of this land is equally responsible for making things come to such a passé. The strength of national character is expected to wrangle with the awful offshoots of conflict boldly. The opponent inescapably wrestles in whitewash, as such. But, it was not to be so. The collapse of the adversary did not take place; the trouncing of the national character but did.
The fact is that the thought system in Kashmir over the years has undergone a gross transformation. The kind of thought revolution, as envisaged in any form of resistance, couldn’t trigger here. Consequentially, the things and concepts which were unacceptable to the society some years back, have gained currency. The culture of permissiveness has purposely been nurtured.
There are unusual ripples around to comprehend. The growing criminalization and lumpenization has thrown up many uncomfortable questions. The warning bells have started ringing. If all that which is happening in Kashmir right now isn’t stopped, a strange wipe out will overtake the population. The tentacles of consumerism and hedonistic hang-ups have already snarled up our generation next. They have become the most vulnerable group.
And with Kashmir becoming a den of inscrutability and obscurity, akin to a horrific whodunit, the entire framework of this society is under an appalling threat. The ambience, in which Divine intervention takes place, has been absolutely destroyed. The godless milieu has left no scope for any such aid coming our way.
Mere sloganeering has duped us. And, in the long run as well, it won’t lead us anywhere at all. All the sections of society, especially political leaders and religious scholars, have not been able to inspire anyone. Most of them have turned self-indulgent and materialistic. The need of self-introspection; the stress on individual reform; and simple honesty in our dealings has been utterly negated.
The cost of resistance cannot be measured in dying ethos of any society. The call for freedom is okay until the moral health of any nation remains sound. Once the moral health deteriorates and starts stinking obnoxiously, there is a dire need to rethink and reorient the strategy of yelling out for ‘promising demand’. The insanity of sorts cannot hang on to any type of cherished freedom. On the contrary, it can lead to a catastrophe. The sooner we recognize it, the better.
Kashmir's Golden Era
Iqbal says that artisans who worked on Harwan terracotta tiles seem to exhibit a high degree of sophistication
(Mr. Iqbal Ahmad, 48, was born in Parigam Chek, Kulgam. He is a graduate with Diploma in Numismatics, Archaeology and Heritage. He is an archaeologist, writer, and a cultural historian. He is employed by the Jammu and Kashmir State Government. Mr. Iqbal Ahmad has published 12 reference books on Kashmir archaeology and heritage.)
Greco-Buddhist Art in Kashmir
The Jammu and Kashmir state has yielded number of evidences of Greco Buddhist sculpture art at its various archaeological sites, which include the terracotta, stone and bronze sculptures Buddhist Stupa of Harwan.
The molded brick tiles unearthed at Harwan depict a unique art trend in that they do not deal with religious, but with secular themes. We find life and nature as the artist found around him. There are figures of men, wearing Central Asian costumes; and curiously enough the relief figures of Parthian horsemen, women, heads and busts appear side by side with early Gupta motifs.
Commenting on it PNK Bamzai writes, “The moldings of Harwan terracotta tiles cannot, however, be the work of folk artists. The art seems to have attained a high degree of sophistication and the molded tiles depict life of the upper class, in as much as we find figures of hunting horsemen, men and women sitting on balcony and enjoying perhaps the beautiful land caps and listening to music from female musician and recitals of dancers. The physiognomy of the persons depicted on these tiles leaves no doubt of their Central Asian origin, their prominent check bones, small eyes, receding forehead and heavy features, all point to the same conclusion. From some letters in the Kharoshti script which went into disuse before the 4th century A.D, and also from a small passage on Buddhist creed written in the Brahmi characters, it seems the tiles belong to the 3rd - 4th century A.D.”
Where as the Harwan tiles are flat, hardly rising out of the background, and are made from a mould and therefore repetitive, the terracotta heads and relieve found at Ushkar are each a single masterpiece produced from moulds carved by hand.
About them PNK Bamzai writes, “These later Gandhara terracotta’s have been variously put from the 4th to the 8th centuries A.D. The figures and figurines depict true Hellenistic influence. Hellenistic art was the dominant cultural force for about a thousand years from the 3rd century B.C. to 700 A.D. in what is now called Afghanistan, and its final echoes lasted in Kashmir until the 10th century A.D.
Buddhist stupa of Akhnur
Relics similar to Ushkar have been unearthed at Akhnur. Situated on the right bank of the Chenab, where the river first enters the plains of the Punjab, Akhnur lay in ancient times on the route between Jammu and Srinagar via the Budil pass, as well as on the road to Rajauri (ancient Rajapuri). It was thus an important centre of trade and commerce and the headquarters of a flourishing timber industry. “Both in treatment and the material used in the lovely terracotta heads with their somber lines and the serene and peaceful poses, we notice a close affinity to the “Pater Gandhara School” on the one hand and to the Gupta art on the other,” writes Bamzai
The fragments collected both at Ushkar and Akhnur consist of pieces of bodies, covered with drapery or partly covered, or even nude; broken bodies of princes, princesses, attendants, holy men, Buddhist mendicants in their draped robes; elaborate decoration that once might have been personal ornaments, such as crowns, necklaces, armlet, bracelets, ear-rings and the like; architectural fragments of a highly ornamental style, including pillar capitals with vine ornaments, volutes, etc.
He further writes, “Stylistically, they seem to inherit two different aesthetics: the mongrel Indo-Roman school of Gandhara school, when there was a shift of artistic activity to areas where schist was not available, (Kashmir, Taxila, Kabul, Bamiyan, Central Asia), a school of sculpture took to working in stucco. Here, gradually, they developed a sensitive, somewhat romantics, style; but later they found that burnt clay (terracotta) lasted longer and was not destroyed like stucco by rain and sun. Patronage of these artists fell low in Taxila and adjoining areas, when Buddhism was dying out, and they crossed the Pir Panjal range into Kashmir where, from towards the end of the 5th century A.D. the building trade was very brisk and flourishing.”
Tile pavement of Hionar
It is a forest site located near the tourist resort of Pahalgam on the left bank of Nallah Lidder, a tile pavement was found by Archaeologist in 1979. The site revealed a pavement which was formed of square and rectangular tiles carved in various human and animal motifs. The most outstanding is the motif of Egyptian king Nariman depicted on one of the tile.
Tile Pavement of Hutmur
Hutmur: Another title pavement scattered on a vast forest land was cited by experts at village Hutmur few kms below Hutmur. The remains of small pebble walls were also recorded at the site.
Tile pavement of Kotbal
Remains of tile pavement were recently discovered by State Archaeology Department on Kotbal hill in Anantnag district in year 2005. The tiles exposed at site carried several motifs but most outstanding were those motifs which showed few female dancers in a Greco Budhist style.
(Kashmir Images)
(Mr. Iqbal Ahmad, 48, was born in Parigam Chek, Kulgam. He is a graduate with Diploma in Numismatics, Archaeology and Heritage. He is an archaeologist, writer, and a cultural historian. He is employed by the Jammu and Kashmir State Government. Mr. Iqbal Ahmad has published 12 reference books on Kashmir archaeology and heritage.)
Greco-Buddhist Art in Kashmir
The Jammu and Kashmir state has yielded number of evidences of Greco Buddhist sculpture art at its various archaeological sites, which include the terracotta, stone and bronze sculptures Buddhist Stupa of Harwan.
The molded brick tiles unearthed at Harwan depict a unique art trend in that they do not deal with religious, but with secular themes. We find life and nature as the artist found around him. There are figures of men, wearing Central Asian costumes; and curiously enough the relief figures of Parthian horsemen, women, heads and busts appear side by side with early Gupta motifs.
Commenting on it PNK Bamzai writes, “The moldings of Harwan terracotta tiles cannot, however, be the work of folk artists. The art seems to have attained a high degree of sophistication and the molded tiles depict life of the upper class, in as much as we find figures of hunting horsemen, men and women sitting on balcony and enjoying perhaps the beautiful land caps and listening to music from female musician and recitals of dancers. The physiognomy of the persons depicted on these tiles leaves no doubt of their Central Asian origin, their prominent check bones, small eyes, receding forehead and heavy features, all point to the same conclusion. From some letters in the Kharoshti script which went into disuse before the 4th century A.D, and also from a small passage on Buddhist creed written in the Brahmi characters, it seems the tiles belong to the 3rd - 4th century A.D.”
Where as the Harwan tiles are flat, hardly rising out of the background, and are made from a mould and therefore repetitive, the terracotta heads and relieve found at Ushkar are each a single masterpiece produced from moulds carved by hand.
About them PNK Bamzai writes, “These later Gandhara terracotta’s have been variously put from the 4th to the 8th centuries A.D. The figures and figurines depict true Hellenistic influence. Hellenistic art was the dominant cultural force for about a thousand years from the 3rd century B.C. to 700 A.D. in what is now called Afghanistan, and its final echoes lasted in Kashmir until the 10th century A.D.
Buddhist stupa of Akhnur
Relics similar to Ushkar have been unearthed at Akhnur. Situated on the right bank of the Chenab, where the river first enters the plains of the Punjab, Akhnur lay in ancient times on the route between Jammu and Srinagar via the Budil pass, as well as on the road to Rajauri (ancient Rajapuri). It was thus an important centre of trade and commerce and the headquarters of a flourishing timber industry. “Both in treatment and the material used in the lovely terracotta heads with their somber lines and the serene and peaceful poses, we notice a close affinity to the “Pater Gandhara School” on the one hand and to the Gupta art on the other,” writes Bamzai
The fragments collected both at Ushkar and Akhnur consist of pieces of bodies, covered with drapery or partly covered, or even nude; broken bodies of princes, princesses, attendants, holy men, Buddhist mendicants in their draped robes; elaborate decoration that once might have been personal ornaments, such as crowns, necklaces, armlet, bracelets, ear-rings and the like; architectural fragments of a highly ornamental style, including pillar capitals with vine ornaments, volutes, etc.
He further writes, “Stylistically, they seem to inherit two different aesthetics: the mongrel Indo-Roman school of Gandhara school, when there was a shift of artistic activity to areas where schist was not available, (Kashmir, Taxila, Kabul, Bamiyan, Central Asia), a school of sculpture took to working in stucco. Here, gradually, they developed a sensitive, somewhat romantics, style; but later they found that burnt clay (terracotta) lasted longer and was not destroyed like stucco by rain and sun. Patronage of these artists fell low in Taxila and adjoining areas, when Buddhism was dying out, and they crossed the Pir Panjal range into Kashmir where, from towards the end of the 5th century A.D. the building trade was very brisk and flourishing.”
Tile pavement of Hionar
It is a forest site located near the tourist resort of Pahalgam on the left bank of Nallah Lidder, a tile pavement was found by Archaeologist in 1979. The site revealed a pavement which was formed of square and rectangular tiles carved in various human and animal motifs. The most outstanding is the motif of Egyptian king Nariman depicted on one of the tile.
Tile Pavement of Hutmur
Hutmur: Another title pavement scattered on a vast forest land was cited by experts at village Hutmur few kms below Hutmur. The remains of small pebble walls were also recorded at the site.
Tile pavement of Kotbal
Remains of tile pavement were recently discovered by State Archaeology Department on Kotbal hill in Anantnag district in year 2005. The tiles exposed at site carried several motifs but most outstanding were those motifs which showed few female dancers in a Greco Budhist style.
(Kashmir Images)
Their Home is as Important as Yours
Aamir suggests that conflict between human and wildlife population is emerging as a major conservation issue worldwide
Managing Human - Wildlife Conflicts
Aamir Masood
One of the J&K’s most exquisite natural resources is its diverse wildlife. We have Leopard, Snow Leopard, Hangul, Brown Bear, Black Bear, Markhor, Ibex, Bharal, Serow, Chiru, Shapu, Chital, Wild Ass, etc. All these primarily represent the varied wildlife of the Himalayas. Unfortunately, leopards, snow leopards and bears are increasingly coming into conflict with the humans. The Human-Wildlife conflicts are increasing like anything in J&K. Leopards and bears have been on rampage in many areas of Jammu and Kashmir divisions, such as Kupwara, Tral, Zabarwan belt, Sopore, Banihal, Udhampur, Poonch, etc., whereas in case of Ladakh, it is the snow leopard which is increasingly coming into conflict with the herders. Of late, these incidents have been increasing across the length and breadth of the state. Many people have been killed and injured.
Conflicts between human and wildlife populations are emerging as a major conservation issue worldwide. Crop-raiders like monkeys, birds, etc. can diminish or destroy cash crops. Carnivores and larger crop-raiders (like bear) can also threaten the lives of both humans and livestock, and are often presumed to be a threat and shot on sight.
As human populations expand and natural habitats shrink, people and wild animals are increasingly coming into conflict over living space and food. The impacts are often huge. These animals, many of which are already threatened or endangered, are often killed in retaliation or to prevent future conflicts. Human-wildlife conflict is one of the main threats to the continued survival of many species and is also a significant threat to local human populations.
Many carnivore populations escaped extinction during the twentieth century as a result of legal protections, habitat restoration and changes in public attitudes. However, encounters between carnivores, livestock and humans are increasing in some areas, raising concerns about the costs of carnivore conservation.
Human-wildlife conflicts occur in both urban and rural areas and range from nuisance encounters to attacks on humans, pets and livestock. The villagers are more likely to encounter wildlife in their own neighborhood than while visiting a national park or a forest. As humans and wildlife try to share limited living space, conflicts can arise. But with patience and planning, most problems can be resolved humanely, or avoided altogether.
Wild animals were considered to be much wilder in the past, but this perception among the common masses changed as people became more and more educated. Recent increasing trend in the human-wildlife conflict in the valley has again tarnished the image of the wild animals, especially those of leopard and bear. Leopards and bears have been responsible for the killing of many people and livestock. These animals are justifying the fact of their being ferocious predators. But I don’t think these are to be blamed entirely for these wrong-doings. Somewhere we are also to be held responsible. Though there should not be any compromise as far as human lives are concerned, but having said that, the fact remains that the incidents can be prevented without endangering these animals too.
Let me now talk about the management practices, which local people need to adopt while encountering the wild animals.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, the humane approach to human-wildlife conflict is based on three general principles:
(1) Respect for the environment (2) Tolerance and understanding of the living beings, and (3) A willingness to resolve conflicts using non-lethal means.
Appreciating the natural environment we share with other living beings is one of the most important components of wildlife conflict resolution. Often the first and best defense is to let natural forces resolve the issue without human intervention. Human tolerance and understanding are also crucial, since many so-called wildlife problems arise out of our irrational fears. Non-lethal conflict resolution is an emerging concept in conflict management, which most people have only just begun to investigate and realize.
The following six-step evaluation will help you resolve wildlife conflicts safely and humanely. (1) Determine the problem—and consider whether it is a problem at all: Learning about the habits of your wild neighbors will help you decide what kind of a problem you can experience. (2) If there is a problem, collect information to better deal with the problem: It is necessary to positively identify the species involved, the extent of the damage, how long it's been happening, whether there are young animals present, and what can be done to resolve the issue in a humane and permanent way. (3) Assess the seriousness and extent of the problem: Important considerations involve safety or health concerns to people or livestock, likelihood of recurrence, and whether the damage appears to be seasonal or ongoing. (4) Take action, but only after all the facts have been collected: Taking action should be one of the last steps, and it should not necessarily have to involve killing animals. (5) Evaluation: Did your action resolve the problem or merely address the symptoms? Your solution should get at the underlying cause of the problem and be effective over the long-term. (6) Seek help: You may not be able to resolve the problem by yourself. Then the matter is immediately to be reported to the concerned authorities.
While most injured or orphaned wildlife are picked up by the authorities, it is important to realize that such human-animal interactions are sometimes unnecessary. Before deciding to intervene, the most important thing to do is patiently observe the animal in its surroundings and decide if it actually needs help. Many animals appear to be orphaned, but actually are not. Sometimes wild babies are not with their parents and spend some time alone, with the parent(s) nearby.
This was something about the humane-approach to solve the human-wildlife conflicts. But this will not solve the problem completely. Much more needs to be done at the governmental level to check and eliminate this problem. And, if solutions to conflicts are not adequate at the governmental level, local support for conservation also declines.
We humans often choose to forget that wildlife have rights too, and, like us, want to be left in peace to raise their young. Sometimes, because of our careless attitude too, conflicts may occur. When they do, it is usually the animals that lose out.
In conclusion, let me say, home is important. Whether it is a cabin, a mansion, a hollow log, a burrow, a den or a forest, home is cherished. It is something to be protected from outsiders, especially if it houses young family members. Homes and their locations are chosen by people and animals for much the same reasons – size, safety, and proximity to amenities such as good food sources. So let us remember it for the sake of co-existence.
Managing Human - Wildlife Conflicts
Aamir Masood
One of the J&K’s most exquisite natural resources is its diverse wildlife. We have Leopard, Snow Leopard, Hangul, Brown Bear, Black Bear, Markhor, Ibex, Bharal, Serow, Chiru, Shapu, Chital, Wild Ass, etc. All these primarily represent the varied wildlife of the Himalayas. Unfortunately, leopards, snow leopards and bears are increasingly coming into conflict with the humans. The Human-Wildlife conflicts are increasing like anything in J&K. Leopards and bears have been on rampage in many areas of Jammu and Kashmir divisions, such as Kupwara, Tral, Zabarwan belt, Sopore, Banihal, Udhampur, Poonch, etc., whereas in case of Ladakh, it is the snow leopard which is increasingly coming into conflict with the herders. Of late, these incidents have been increasing across the length and breadth of the state. Many people have been killed and injured.
Conflicts between human and wildlife populations are emerging as a major conservation issue worldwide. Crop-raiders like monkeys, birds, etc. can diminish or destroy cash crops. Carnivores and larger crop-raiders (like bear) can also threaten the lives of both humans and livestock, and are often presumed to be a threat and shot on sight.
As human populations expand and natural habitats shrink, people and wild animals are increasingly coming into conflict over living space and food. The impacts are often huge. These animals, many of which are already threatened or endangered, are often killed in retaliation or to prevent future conflicts. Human-wildlife conflict is one of the main threats to the continued survival of many species and is also a significant threat to local human populations.
Many carnivore populations escaped extinction during the twentieth century as a result of legal protections, habitat restoration and changes in public attitudes. However, encounters between carnivores, livestock and humans are increasing in some areas, raising concerns about the costs of carnivore conservation.
Human-wildlife conflicts occur in both urban and rural areas and range from nuisance encounters to attacks on humans, pets and livestock. The villagers are more likely to encounter wildlife in their own neighborhood than while visiting a national park or a forest. As humans and wildlife try to share limited living space, conflicts can arise. But with patience and planning, most problems can be resolved humanely, or avoided altogether.
Wild animals were considered to be much wilder in the past, but this perception among the common masses changed as people became more and more educated. Recent increasing trend in the human-wildlife conflict in the valley has again tarnished the image of the wild animals, especially those of leopard and bear. Leopards and bears have been responsible for the killing of many people and livestock. These animals are justifying the fact of their being ferocious predators. But I don’t think these are to be blamed entirely for these wrong-doings. Somewhere we are also to be held responsible. Though there should not be any compromise as far as human lives are concerned, but having said that, the fact remains that the incidents can be prevented without endangering these animals too.
Let me now talk about the management practices, which local people need to adopt while encountering the wild animals.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, the humane approach to human-wildlife conflict is based on three general principles:
(1) Respect for the environment (2) Tolerance and understanding of the living beings, and (3) A willingness to resolve conflicts using non-lethal means.
Appreciating the natural environment we share with other living beings is one of the most important components of wildlife conflict resolution. Often the first and best defense is to let natural forces resolve the issue without human intervention. Human tolerance and understanding are also crucial, since many so-called wildlife problems arise out of our irrational fears. Non-lethal conflict resolution is an emerging concept in conflict management, which most people have only just begun to investigate and realize.
The following six-step evaluation will help you resolve wildlife conflicts safely and humanely. (1) Determine the problem—and consider whether it is a problem at all: Learning about the habits of your wild neighbors will help you decide what kind of a problem you can experience. (2) If there is a problem, collect information to better deal with the problem: It is necessary to positively identify the species involved, the extent of the damage, how long it's been happening, whether there are young animals present, and what can be done to resolve the issue in a humane and permanent way. (3) Assess the seriousness and extent of the problem: Important considerations involve safety or health concerns to people or livestock, likelihood of recurrence, and whether the damage appears to be seasonal or ongoing. (4) Take action, but only after all the facts have been collected: Taking action should be one of the last steps, and it should not necessarily have to involve killing animals. (5) Evaluation: Did your action resolve the problem or merely address the symptoms? Your solution should get at the underlying cause of the problem and be effective over the long-term. (6) Seek help: You may not be able to resolve the problem by yourself. Then the matter is immediately to be reported to the concerned authorities.
While most injured or orphaned wildlife are picked up by the authorities, it is important to realize that such human-animal interactions are sometimes unnecessary. Before deciding to intervene, the most important thing to do is patiently observe the animal in its surroundings and decide if it actually needs help. Many animals appear to be orphaned, but actually are not. Sometimes wild babies are not with their parents and spend some time alone, with the parent(s) nearby.
This was something about the humane-approach to solve the human-wildlife conflicts. But this will not solve the problem completely. Much more needs to be done at the governmental level to check and eliminate this problem. And, if solutions to conflicts are not adequate at the governmental level, local support for conservation also declines.
We humans often choose to forget that wildlife have rights too, and, like us, want to be left in peace to raise their young. Sometimes, because of our careless attitude too, conflicts may occur. When they do, it is usually the animals that lose out.
In conclusion, let me say, home is important. Whether it is a cabin, a mansion, a hollow log, a burrow, a den or a forest, home is cherished. It is something to be protected from outsiders, especially if it houses young family members. Homes and their locations are chosen by people and animals for much the same reasons – size, safety, and proximity to amenities such as good food sources. So let us remember it for the sake of co-existence.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Excesses of a State Indulged by Other People's Money (OPM)
Arjimand analyzes J&K’s case to the 13th Finance Commission of India
(Mr. Arjimand Hussain Talib, 34, is a columnist/writer and a development professional who matriculated from Tyndale Biscoe Memorial School in 1991. He subsequently graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Bangalore University and has a diploma in journalism as well. He is an alumni of the International Academy for Leadership, Gummerbach, Germany. Arjimand writes regular weekly columns for the Greater Kashmir and The Kashmir Times since 2000 on diverse issues of political economy, development, environment and social change and has over 450 published articles to his credit. His forthcoming book: "Confronting the Myths: A Critical Analysis of the Political Economy of Jammu & Kashmir," will be published soon. He is currently working with an international development organisation, undertaking projects evaluation and developing contingency plans in some 11 countries in Asia and Africa.)
Recipe for bankruptcy
Ancient India’s Machiavellian - Kautilya - believed that artha (sound economy) was the most important thing to the survival of a State. To him, dharma (faith) and karma (deeds) are both dependent on it.
When it came to dealing with an adversary within the State, Kautilya always suggested to his king - Chandragupta Maurya – a mixture of strategies: sanman (appeasement), danda (punishment), dana (gift and bribery), bheda (splitting opposition) and maya (illusion and deceit).
While trying to understand Omar administration’s current financial condition and Srinagar’s relation with New Delhi, there are some interesting signs in Kautilya’s ‘wisdom’. We need to look the way other way round too. Omar administration’s karma and dharma alone would determine whether Kashmir could avoid a seemingly impending financial bankruptcy.
The current visit of India’s 13th Finance Commission to Kashmir has come at an interesting time. Our State is neck deep in debt. We no longer have sustainable finances to run the State. More than half of Kashmir’s 2008-09 budget of Rs 18,400 crore – about Rs 10000 crore – came from what are generally called as ‘central grants’.
Our own tax revenues account for just 20 per cent of the total expenditure. Our expenditures are rising but income in average terms keeps going down. We cannot even build a drain now without a ‘central grant.’
Our overdraft from J&K Bank has now become chronic. It now never goes below Rs 1500 crore at any given time. Government’s has a standard solution: one-time grant from government of India to write that off! There are other miseries too.
Omar Abdullah has made a public commitment to raise the salaries of government employees. It means his government requires an additional Rs 1700 crore every year. To pay the arrears, he needs over Rs 4200 crores. There is no way his government can get this money. There is only one solution: recurring annual ‘central grants’!
The question is: are all these grants without Kashmir being able to raise its own resources really possible to sustain?
A sustainable way out goes much beyond the 13th Finance Commission. Our current case presentation to the Commission is argumentatively weak and politically short sighted. Kashmir needs hard political bargains. That alone would enable us to take economic decisions that will end our dependency. Has this government the stomach to do that, by the way?
We are now asking for Rs 15000 crore as devolution, mainly for investing in the power sector. If we get that money it is possible we will be able to pay our debts and generate a surplus. But would that happen?
Since Kashmir’s annexation and division, New Delhi has never let Srinagar assume political and economic power that will enable us to take our own decisions. We have been systematically paralysed, not only to act decisively but even to think logically.
Today our case before the 13th Finance Commission for a ‘generous’ award seems to be influenced by panic and desperation, rather than a right. We need to make Kashmiri people understand that financial devolution from New Delhi to Srinagar is not a matter of political concession or generosity; it is all about due economic rights. What they are supposed to pay us through devolution, we have already paid all that through the visible and invisible taxes on the goods and services we use.
To have the system of tax devolution in India in perspective would be helpful. Generally the Finance Commission follows the equity and efficiency criteria while proposing awards to states – trying to improve services in low income states, promoting horizontal equity and rewarding better performing states.
When the Twelfth Finance Commission (TFC) distributed tax money among Indian states, it increased the `efficiency share' to 15 per cent (7.5 per cent for fiscal discipline and 7.5 per cent for tax effort). The weightage for population was raised from 10 per cent to 25 per cent. It reduced the ‘distance criterion’ to 50 per cent. In other words, better performing states were rewarded.
Omar administration must remain informed that budgetary gaps as a ground for equity have now been given up as not being conducive to efficiency. Our ‘budgetary gaps’ argument is again not sustainable.
No matter the criteria followed on the percentage of grants to devolutions, the problem is that they will hardly help us in raising our internal revenues. Kashmir needs its natural resources and political sovereignty back. Nothing else will do.
Government of India now encourages States to take loans directly from the market. The singular option of raising loans from the central government is over now. But such a course needs good fiscal health and commitment to fiscal responsibility. Are we in that condition right now? Who will give us loans looking at our pathetic repayment condition?
One of Kashmir’s biggest handicaps is that we do not know our exact contribution to the central tax kitty. It is never made known to us. It is common sense that given our high reliance on imports from India, our share in India’s tax kitty is higher than what we get through the normal formulae of devolution. As such, Omar administration needs to embrace a language of rights rather than generosity.
Another area of concern is the centrally-sponsored schemes (CSSs). It is now an established fact that most of the CSSs in Kashmir are an absolute waste. A few months back while delivering a lecture at IMPA, Srinagar, I asked some block-level government officers about their perception of centrally sponsored schemes. The response was unanimous – they see these schemes in collision with socio-economic realities of Kashmir. We must renegotiate the terms of CSSs in Kashmir. By virtue of our own constitution, we must get them as untied discretionary grants which could be used contextually.
On power, there is no substitute to handing over our power houses to us. To say that it is the Indus Waters Treaty that inhibits our ability to develop our hydro power resources is misleading. It is a kind of political red herring which tends to pass the buck. The case is simple: New Delhi has managed to harness a huge chunk of our water resources within those ‘limitations.’ We need to negotiate our rights within that space, which is broad enough to exploit sustainably.
Kashmir’s current level of financial dependency is totally unmanageable. The current course of unsustainable and open ended grants leads to bankruptcy. This course of running after grants and packages is nothing but a fool’s errand.
Omar administration’s future dharma and karma would reflect how it takes this state out of this dependence. Kashmiris don’t need sanman (appeasement). We need samman (honor). We can’t tolerate danda (punishment) indefinitely. Nor a culture of dana (gift and bribery). Kashmiris do see through the maya (illusion and deceit) now. It is time to think different.
And reversing the excesses of political disempowerment alone holds the key.
(Mr. Arjimand Hussain Talib, 34, is a columnist/writer and a development professional who matriculated from Tyndale Biscoe Memorial School in 1991. He subsequently graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Bangalore University and has a diploma in journalism as well. He is an alumni of the International Academy for Leadership, Gummerbach, Germany. Arjimand writes regular weekly columns for the Greater Kashmir and The Kashmir Times since 2000 on diverse issues of political economy, development, environment and social change and has over 450 published articles to his credit. His forthcoming book: "Confronting the Myths: A Critical Analysis of the Political Economy of Jammu & Kashmir," will be published soon. He is currently working with an international development organisation, undertaking projects evaluation and developing contingency plans in some 11 countries in Asia and Africa.)
Recipe for bankruptcy
Ancient India’s Machiavellian - Kautilya - believed that artha (sound economy) was the most important thing to the survival of a State. To him, dharma (faith) and karma (deeds) are both dependent on it.
When it came to dealing with an adversary within the State, Kautilya always suggested to his king - Chandragupta Maurya – a mixture of strategies: sanman (appeasement), danda (punishment), dana (gift and bribery), bheda (splitting opposition) and maya (illusion and deceit).
While trying to understand Omar administration’s current financial condition and Srinagar’s relation with New Delhi, there are some interesting signs in Kautilya’s ‘wisdom’. We need to look the way other way round too. Omar administration’s karma and dharma alone would determine whether Kashmir could avoid a seemingly impending financial bankruptcy.
The current visit of India’s 13th Finance Commission to Kashmir has come at an interesting time. Our State is neck deep in debt. We no longer have sustainable finances to run the State. More than half of Kashmir’s 2008-09 budget of Rs 18,400 crore – about Rs 10000 crore – came from what are generally called as ‘central grants’.
Our own tax revenues account for just 20 per cent of the total expenditure. Our expenditures are rising but income in average terms keeps going down. We cannot even build a drain now without a ‘central grant.’
Our overdraft from J&K Bank has now become chronic. It now never goes below Rs 1500 crore at any given time. Government’s has a standard solution: one-time grant from government of India to write that off! There are other miseries too.
Omar Abdullah has made a public commitment to raise the salaries of government employees. It means his government requires an additional Rs 1700 crore every year. To pay the arrears, he needs over Rs 4200 crores. There is no way his government can get this money. There is only one solution: recurring annual ‘central grants’!
The question is: are all these grants without Kashmir being able to raise its own resources really possible to sustain?
A sustainable way out goes much beyond the 13th Finance Commission. Our current case presentation to the Commission is argumentatively weak and politically short sighted. Kashmir needs hard political bargains. That alone would enable us to take economic decisions that will end our dependency. Has this government the stomach to do that, by the way?
We are now asking for Rs 15000 crore as devolution, mainly for investing in the power sector. If we get that money it is possible we will be able to pay our debts and generate a surplus. But would that happen?
Since Kashmir’s annexation and division, New Delhi has never let Srinagar assume political and economic power that will enable us to take our own decisions. We have been systematically paralysed, not only to act decisively but even to think logically.
Today our case before the 13th Finance Commission for a ‘generous’ award seems to be influenced by panic and desperation, rather than a right. We need to make Kashmiri people understand that financial devolution from New Delhi to Srinagar is not a matter of political concession or generosity; it is all about due economic rights. What they are supposed to pay us through devolution, we have already paid all that through the visible and invisible taxes on the goods and services we use.
To have the system of tax devolution in India in perspective would be helpful. Generally the Finance Commission follows the equity and efficiency criteria while proposing awards to states – trying to improve services in low income states, promoting horizontal equity and rewarding better performing states.
When the Twelfth Finance Commission (TFC) distributed tax money among Indian states, it increased the `efficiency share' to 15 per cent (7.5 per cent for fiscal discipline and 7.5 per cent for tax effort). The weightage for population was raised from 10 per cent to 25 per cent. It reduced the ‘distance criterion’ to 50 per cent. In other words, better performing states were rewarded.
Omar administration must remain informed that budgetary gaps as a ground for equity have now been given up as not being conducive to efficiency. Our ‘budgetary gaps’ argument is again not sustainable.
No matter the criteria followed on the percentage of grants to devolutions, the problem is that they will hardly help us in raising our internal revenues. Kashmir needs its natural resources and political sovereignty back. Nothing else will do.
Government of India now encourages States to take loans directly from the market. The singular option of raising loans from the central government is over now. But such a course needs good fiscal health and commitment to fiscal responsibility. Are we in that condition right now? Who will give us loans looking at our pathetic repayment condition?
One of Kashmir’s biggest handicaps is that we do not know our exact contribution to the central tax kitty. It is never made known to us. It is common sense that given our high reliance on imports from India, our share in India’s tax kitty is higher than what we get through the normal formulae of devolution. As such, Omar administration needs to embrace a language of rights rather than generosity.
Another area of concern is the centrally-sponsored schemes (CSSs). It is now an established fact that most of the CSSs in Kashmir are an absolute waste. A few months back while delivering a lecture at IMPA, Srinagar, I asked some block-level government officers about their perception of centrally sponsored schemes. The response was unanimous – they see these schemes in collision with socio-economic realities of Kashmir. We must renegotiate the terms of CSSs in Kashmir. By virtue of our own constitution, we must get them as untied discretionary grants which could be used contextually.
On power, there is no substitute to handing over our power houses to us. To say that it is the Indus Waters Treaty that inhibits our ability to develop our hydro power resources is misleading. It is a kind of political red herring which tends to pass the buck. The case is simple: New Delhi has managed to harness a huge chunk of our water resources within those ‘limitations.’ We need to negotiate our rights within that space, which is broad enough to exploit sustainably.
Kashmir’s current level of financial dependency is totally unmanageable. The current course of unsustainable and open ended grants leads to bankruptcy. This course of running after grants and packages is nothing but a fool’s errand.
Omar administration’s future dharma and karma would reflect how it takes this state out of this dependence. Kashmiris don’t need sanman (appeasement). We need samman (honor). We can’t tolerate danda (punishment) indefinitely. Nor a culture of dana (gift and bribery). Kashmiris do see through the maya (illusion and deceit) now. It is time to think different.
And reversing the excesses of political disempowerment alone holds the key.
Crisis of Confidence and Credibility
Afshana says that the biggest tragedy of changed Kashmir is that most of its intellectuals and thinkers are on the payroll of different public and private sector companies
(Ms. Syeda Afshana, 35, was born in Srinagar. She attended the Vishwa Bharti High School in Rainawari, Srinagar, and the Government Women's College in Srinagar where she received a B.Sc. degree. She completed her Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Kashmir University in 1999 and was the Gold Medallist (first position holder) in her graduating class. She is currently a Lecturer in the Media Education Research Centre (MERC) of the Kashmir University and pursuing her doctorate on the role of internet after 9/11.)
Kashmir: A changed land
In the prevailing scenario in Kashmir, the cynicism has crept in inevitably. The flux of sorts has, over a period of time, interjected with our thinking patterns. The continuous spate of violence has also undermined our creative capabilities.
Of course, the ideological and doctrinal causes as well do play a part in framing our responses. However, the daily spontaneous reactions usually don’t conform to any rational stimulus. For instance, the unstructured and unprompted strike calls or street outbursts don’t wait for any logical explanation. They just happen; they are rarely engineered. And then, the dynamics of mob psychology often do work in to producing a reaction.
Without entering into futile debate about ‘Hartals or no Hartals’ at a juncture when lot of blood has flown down the Jhelum, the only disturbing point about Hartals is that it has now started reflecting the anarchy within. The way each and every group, from Majlis bodies, Coordination committees, Lawyer associations, Shopkeeper chambers, Huriyat G and M down to a handful of residents from South or North, every one seems to have involuntarily assumed the authority to call for a Hartal anytime.
The parallel calls, at times, have added to the already confounded confusion. The loss of sense of purpose and direction is becoming more obtrusive. The common masses are perplexed at the emerging situation. The recurring strikes have eventually blunted their thinking prospective. They don’t have the grit to speak up against anyone.
By the same token, the kind of fear unleashed by the brutal use of force by the State against the commoners has also taken away their tenacity. The minds of people are suppressed. The whole nation seems pushed into a dark, dead end.
Perhaps the government in the State mistakenly believes that the people’s confidence can be earned merely by stringent laws or police forces. The notion that use of force is permissible and can add glory to the operating ideology is not long sustaining. The supremacy of fearless governance lies in governing in the people’s interest and not playing to power politics, stalling political compulsions to come in the way of making and taking of some vital decisions connected to the sentiments of common people.
It is astonishing that both the actors, from State and Separatist camp, claim a moral basis in the present situation in Kashmir. Both are, however, fielding on a flimsy ground. The general mood of the population is a grim reminder towards the failure of the both in holding up a certain mundane level of integrity and probity in their approaches. The bubble of their persuasive charms and powerful arguments has got somewhat pricked. Both have actually crossed the paradigm of political gimmickry and customary pretensions.
Kashmir today is a changed land of changing perceptions. People have, undoubtedly, grown in their political acuity and outlook. Nonetheless, this kind of political maturity that discerns each and every political move is, ironically, unable to assert itself openly. The atmosphere of paranoia has slanted the experiences in a deceptive ignorance. The self-censorship has made things quite fuzzy.
It is really hard to crack the shell of fear, and fume out the core realities around dispassionately. There are scores of reasons to remain silent, detached; and, there is conversely immense rationale to break the ice. The type of milieu, engineered or otherwise, makes us think hundred times before we finally decide to mean to say something critically meaningful.
That’s perhaps why we are left with very few individuals, who possess the nerve and knack of speaking out truthfully. And, they are the only ones amongst the multitude of so-called thinkers, who can talk without any sugar or salt coatings. It’s because they are not snarled by the trappings of ‘blind-loyalty-towards-boss’ mindset. They are the independent thinking persons, who can afford to talk their minds without ambiguity. Perhaps the biggest tragedy of changed Kashmir is that most of its intellectuals and thinkers are on the pay-roll of different public and private undertakings. Their role within and without is quite contradictory and confusing. Something that explains, and even “justifies”, their vagueness!
There is a crisis of confidence and credibility. Today, no one takes voices from Kashmir seriously. From international to local level, Kashmir has no genuine and honest voice to project and pride on. The decent and respectable ethos of this nation stands mired in the distressing waters of reliability. Unless that is resuscitated, Kashmir will continue to lose everything from material to moral.
(Ms. Syeda Afshana, 35, was born in Srinagar. She attended the Vishwa Bharti High School in Rainawari, Srinagar, and the Government Women's College in Srinagar where she received a B.Sc. degree. She completed her Master's degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Kashmir University in 1999 and was the Gold Medallist (first position holder) in her graduating class. She is currently a Lecturer in the Media Education Research Centre (MERC) of the Kashmir University and pursuing her doctorate on the role of internet after 9/11.)
Kashmir: A changed land
In the prevailing scenario in Kashmir, the cynicism has crept in inevitably. The flux of sorts has, over a period of time, interjected with our thinking patterns. The continuous spate of violence has also undermined our creative capabilities.
Of course, the ideological and doctrinal causes as well do play a part in framing our responses. However, the daily spontaneous reactions usually don’t conform to any rational stimulus. For instance, the unstructured and unprompted strike calls or street outbursts don’t wait for any logical explanation. They just happen; they are rarely engineered. And then, the dynamics of mob psychology often do work in to producing a reaction.
Without entering into futile debate about ‘Hartals or no Hartals’ at a juncture when lot of blood has flown down the Jhelum, the only disturbing point about Hartals is that it has now started reflecting the anarchy within. The way each and every group, from Majlis bodies, Coordination committees, Lawyer associations, Shopkeeper chambers, Huriyat G and M down to a handful of residents from South or North, every one seems to have involuntarily assumed the authority to call for a Hartal anytime.
The parallel calls, at times, have added to the already confounded confusion. The loss of sense of purpose and direction is becoming more obtrusive. The common masses are perplexed at the emerging situation. The recurring strikes have eventually blunted their thinking prospective. They don’t have the grit to speak up against anyone.
By the same token, the kind of fear unleashed by the brutal use of force by the State against the commoners has also taken away their tenacity. The minds of people are suppressed. The whole nation seems pushed into a dark, dead end.
Perhaps the government in the State mistakenly believes that the people’s confidence can be earned merely by stringent laws or police forces. The notion that use of force is permissible and can add glory to the operating ideology is not long sustaining. The supremacy of fearless governance lies in governing in the people’s interest and not playing to power politics, stalling political compulsions to come in the way of making and taking of some vital decisions connected to the sentiments of common people.
It is astonishing that both the actors, from State and Separatist camp, claim a moral basis in the present situation in Kashmir. Both are, however, fielding on a flimsy ground. The general mood of the population is a grim reminder towards the failure of the both in holding up a certain mundane level of integrity and probity in their approaches. The bubble of their persuasive charms and powerful arguments has got somewhat pricked. Both have actually crossed the paradigm of political gimmickry and customary pretensions.
Kashmir today is a changed land of changing perceptions. People have, undoubtedly, grown in their political acuity and outlook. Nonetheless, this kind of political maturity that discerns each and every political move is, ironically, unable to assert itself openly. The atmosphere of paranoia has slanted the experiences in a deceptive ignorance. The self-censorship has made things quite fuzzy.
It is really hard to crack the shell of fear, and fume out the core realities around dispassionately. There are scores of reasons to remain silent, detached; and, there is conversely immense rationale to break the ice. The type of milieu, engineered or otherwise, makes us think hundred times before we finally decide to mean to say something critically meaningful.
That’s perhaps why we are left with very few individuals, who possess the nerve and knack of speaking out truthfully. And, they are the only ones amongst the multitude of so-called thinkers, who can talk without any sugar or salt coatings. It’s because they are not snarled by the trappings of ‘blind-loyalty-towards-boss’ mindset. They are the independent thinking persons, who can afford to talk their minds without ambiguity. Perhaps the biggest tragedy of changed Kashmir is that most of its intellectuals and thinkers are on the pay-roll of different public and private undertakings. Their role within and without is quite contradictory and confusing. Something that explains, and even “justifies”, their vagueness!
There is a crisis of confidence and credibility. Today, no one takes voices from Kashmir seriously. From international to local level, Kashmir has no genuine and honest voice to project and pride on. The decent and respectable ethos of this nation stands mired in the distressing waters of reliability. Unless that is resuscitated, Kashmir will continue to lose everything from material to moral.
Where Lack of Professionalism is a Way of Life
Rashid describes various deficiencies in the state official machinery to conduct professional forensic medical examinations, but the truth is that there is a lack of professionalism in all walks of life in Kashmir
(Dr. Rashid Para is founder member and senior central executive council member of the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK), and spokesperson of Anesthesiologists Association Kashmir.)
Our administration needs Postmortem
The recent incident of rape and murder of two young innocent females at Shopian has not only unfolded the depth of human tragedy in Kashmir but has also exposed the vulnerability of police, medical and forensic departments to handle such incidents and bring investigation to any logical conclusion. Had these departments acted professionally and on time probably the situation could have been different.
Also, this has brought out a strong message for our politicians that people in Kashmir value their chastity and dignity more than the economic development. They have lost millions as a result of on-going agitation and continuous strike and so has the education as the colleges and schools of the entire district are closed from the last one month or so. This incident did affect the over all economy of our state as well. But who is responsible?
Our state badly needs police and administrative reforms which shall empower people and not vice versa. We have to erode the present bureaucracy, police and administrative juggernaut that intimidates and petrify its own people. The political and administrative setups have to be made independent. The political system in the state should also act ex-cathedra by giving transparent administration to its people and bringing genuine, honest and dedicated people at the helm of affairs. The Shopian incident has exacerbated people and exasperated government as well. Family of the victims is equally pained and want only the perpetrators of this heinous crime be unmasked and be booked under law. The society was remorseful and government also needs to act with compassion and compunction. They are still remonstrating for justice and are not inclined towards any setup.
The medical department has handled the case unprofessionally as per the Commission of Report (CoI) and has resulted in hotchpotch and loss of pellucidity in the case. Being a doctor I would like to comment on the medical aspects of handling of such cases. Postmortems are a routine investigation in American and European countries on almost every death. But in our setup lot of social stigma is attached to it. For a common man here it is very frightening. Till now I have never seen a postmortem was ever conducted in an ambiance free from public anger and outrage. Due to the lack of trust people always carry a feeling that the truth will be stashed away.
Shopian postmortems were carried out in more difficult situation because angry mob could not be controlled and people wanted to know cause of death immediately. Postmortem has to answer the cause of death and the nature of offence and crime committed. But unfortunately our way of conducting autopsies and collection of evidences end up in misdemeanor and ultimately facing a predicament. We have to make a thorough introspection today and admit to weaknesses and shortcomings. We need to acknowledge that the procedure of conducting postmortems in our state is not developed. Forensic medicine is taught as an undergraduate medical subject and there is no post graduate specialization courses available in our state. Forensic department is also not recognized by MCI. As we know specialist care cannot be rendered without specialization courses in particular fields, similarly forensic expertise is a specialist field which can not be always carried out to perfection by simple MBBS doctors. So it will not be genuine to expect too much from the existing scenario. Dead bodies even need to be respected while performing autopsies. But unfortunately most of our district and sub-district hospitals have filthy sheds available for conducting autopsies which are even worst than cowsheds, lacking even basic facilities of water and electricity. The instruments are either rusty or obsolete which further brings humiliation to the dead body. And I know after reading this report our officers will again waste no time to please the government that everything is right and there is no deficiency.
But we have to be honest that all that is fair and right is only on papers and not on ground. And I promise if a random test on forensic medicine is taken from all these officers of health department. So let’s not unnecessarily deceive our nation.
We also know that population of the country is increasing, modernization is at pace, movement of people into and outside the state has increased multifold, hi-tech communication system is affordable and easily accessible, and perhaps all these factors will proportionately increase the crime rate as well and thus pose more challenges before the government in future. The nature of crime will change as well. And if we fail to renovate the system of collection of evidences on modern scientific lines, we may end up seeing this as a one side affair where criminals will be able to create more Shopian like incidents and all indicators of peace, development, and prosperity will be eclipsed behind the ominous and behemoth faces of criminals who will be difficult to unveil. So a well established medical jurisprudence system has to be established at earliest and I recommend following exigencies.
1) All those incidents and cases which can lead to repercussions of greater magnitude as that of Shopian, in such cases autopsies should be only carried out by most competent personnel who have a proper specialization (forensic doctor/expert).
2) Every district headquarter should be well equipped with proper infrastructure and space for conduct of autopsies.
3) To achieve the objectives for which a medico-legal autopsy is carried out, mortuaries must be properly equipped. Unfortunately, in India, most mortuaries lack basic facilities, leave aside the surgical suite-like atmosphere. Many mortuaries do not have cold storage facilities for preserving dead bodies, and the few ones that have do not have uninterrupted electric power supply to run them. As a result, dead bodies stored here decompose and crucial medical evidence is lost. So-called mortuaries in many rural hospitals lack basic cleanliness. There is a dearth of proper instruments (for example to cut the skull), and the lack of sterile containers to collect viscera for further investigations increases the chances of cross contamination. As a result of this poor infrastructure, the chances of reaching a valid conclusion on the cause of death are poor.
4) To help forensic science to usher in our state the forensic department at all medical colleges should be adequately staffed and post graduation courses started at earliest.
5) Meanwhile from every district and sub-district hospitals doctors should be sent for crash courses in forensic expertise outside state to PGI or AIIMS.
6) Autopsies should be carried out strictly under rules and not on verbal instructions.
7) There should be proper security arrangement in and around the hospitals and autopsy centers.
8) People have to be educated and awareness should be created through programmes that their cooperation can yield better results on such occasions. People should also be taught how their unnecessary interference and mishandling can lead to erosion and destruction of evidences which can turn counterproductive for getting justice in time.
9) Police and doctors should strictly work under rules and ethics in such situations and should not allow themselves to get influenced by political system and should be hold accountable before district ombudsman appointed for the purpose.
10) Political interference should be checked and controlled.
We hope and expect that such measures will help in building the trust and help in delivering justice.
(Dr. Rashid Para is founder member and senior central executive council member of the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK), and spokesperson of Anesthesiologists Association Kashmir.)
Our administration needs Postmortem
The recent incident of rape and murder of two young innocent females at Shopian has not only unfolded the depth of human tragedy in Kashmir but has also exposed the vulnerability of police, medical and forensic departments to handle such incidents and bring investigation to any logical conclusion. Had these departments acted professionally and on time probably the situation could have been different.
Also, this has brought out a strong message for our politicians that people in Kashmir value their chastity and dignity more than the economic development. They have lost millions as a result of on-going agitation and continuous strike and so has the education as the colleges and schools of the entire district are closed from the last one month or so. This incident did affect the over all economy of our state as well. But who is responsible?
Our state badly needs police and administrative reforms which shall empower people and not vice versa. We have to erode the present bureaucracy, police and administrative juggernaut that intimidates and petrify its own people. The political and administrative setups have to be made independent. The political system in the state should also act ex-cathedra by giving transparent administration to its people and bringing genuine, honest and dedicated people at the helm of affairs. The Shopian incident has exacerbated people and exasperated government as well. Family of the victims is equally pained and want only the perpetrators of this heinous crime be unmasked and be booked under law. The society was remorseful and government also needs to act with compassion and compunction. They are still remonstrating for justice and are not inclined towards any setup.
The medical department has handled the case unprofessionally as per the Commission of Report (CoI) and has resulted in hotchpotch and loss of pellucidity in the case. Being a doctor I would like to comment on the medical aspects of handling of such cases. Postmortems are a routine investigation in American and European countries on almost every death. But in our setup lot of social stigma is attached to it. For a common man here it is very frightening. Till now I have never seen a postmortem was ever conducted in an ambiance free from public anger and outrage. Due to the lack of trust people always carry a feeling that the truth will be stashed away.
Shopian postmortems were carried out in more difficult situation because angry mob could not be controlled and people wanted to know cause of death immediately. Postmortem has to answer the cause of death and the nature of offence and crime committed. But unfortunately our way of conducting autopsies and collection of evidences end up in misdemeanor and ultimately facing a predicament. We have to make a thorough introspection today and admit to weaknesses and shortcomings. We need to acknowledge that the procedure of conducting postmortems in our state is not developed. Forensic medicine is taught as an undergraduate medical subject and there is no post graduate specialization courses available in our state. Forensic department is also not recognized by MCI. As we know specialist care cannot be rendered without specialization courses in particular fields, similarly forensic expertise is a specialist field which can not be always carried out to perfection by simple MBBS doctors. So it will not be genuine to expect too much from the existing scenario. Dead bodies even need to be respected while performing autopsies. But unfortunately most of our district and sub-district hospitals have filthy sheds available for conducting autopsies which are even worst than cowsheds, lacking even basic facilities of water and electricity. The instruments are either rusty or obsolete which further brings humiliation to the dead body. And I know after reading this report our officers will again waste no time to please the government that everything is right and there is no deficiency.
But we have to be honest that all that is fair and right is only on papers and not on ground. And I promise if a random test on forensic medicine is taken from all these officers of health department. So let’s not unnecessarily deceive our nation.
We also know that population of the country is increasing, modernization is at pace, movement of people into and outside the state has increased multifold, hi-tech communication system is affordable and easily accessible, and perhaps all these factors will proportionately increase the crime rate as well and thus pose more challenges before the government in future. The nature of crime will change as well. And if we fail to renovate the system of collection of evidences on modern scientific lines, we may end up seeing this as a one side affair where criminals will be able to create more Shopian like incidents and all indicators of peace, development, and prosperity will be eclipsed behind the ominous and behemoth faces of criminals who will be difficult to unveil. So a well established medical jurisprudence system has to be established at earliest and I recommend following exigencies.
1) All those incidents and cases which can lead to repercussions of greater magnitude as that of Shopian, in such cases autopsies should be only carried out by most competent personnel who have a proper specialization (forensic doctor/expert).
2) Every district headquarter should be well equipped with proper infrastructure and space for conduct of autopsies.
3) To achieve the objectives for which a medico-legal autopsy is carried out, mortuaries must be properly equipped. Unfortunately, in India, most mortuaries lack basic facilities, leave aside the surgical suite-like atmosphere. Many mortuaries do not have cold storage facilities for preserving dead bodies, and the few ones that have do not have uninterrupted electric power supply to run them. As a result, dead bodies stored here decompose and crucial medical evidence is lost. So-called mortuaries in many rural hospitals lack basic cleanliness. There is a dearth of proper instruments (for example to cut the skull), and the lack of sterile containers to collect viscera for further investigations increases the chances of cross contamination. As a result of this poor infrastructure, the chances of reaching a valid conclusion on the cause of death are poor.
4) To help forensic science to usher in our state the forensic department at all medical colleges should be adequately staffed and post graduation courses started at earliest.
5) Meanwhile from every district and sub-district hospitals doctors should be sent for crash courses in forensic expertise outside state to PGI or AIIMS.
6) Autopsies should be carried out strictly under rules and not on verbal instructions.
7) There should be proper security arrangement in and around the hospitals and autopsy centers.
8) People have to be educated and awareness should be created through programmes that their cooperation can yield better results on such occasions. People should also be taught how their unnecessary interference and mishandling can lead to erosion and destruction of evidences which can turn counterproductive for getting justice in time.
9) Police and doctors should strictly work under rules and ethics in such situations and should not allow themselves to get influenced by political system and should be hold accountable before district ombudsman appointed for the purpose.
10) Political interference should be checked and controlled.
We hope and expect that such measures will help in building the trust and help in delivering justice.
Kani Shawl Headed to Oblivion
The art of making Kani Shawl may die for want of artisans
KANI SHAWL
Nazia Akhtar (Greater Kashmir)
Srinagar: A wonderful trade of Kashmir known world over for its beauty of art is currently facing difficult times with artisans leaving this trade citing low wages.
The Kani Shawl, according to the men in this trade, is fast losing its artisans for they find it difficult to sustain themselves with the meager wages they earn in this trade.
The artisans said the wages have dropped sharply during the last two years.
“Presently an artisan weaving a Kani Shawl is earning less than a hundred rupees a day. However before two years the same artisan was earning Rs 250 per day. So the wages instead of increasing have decreased in the last two years that has further added to the problems of the artisans,” said Ghulam Muhammad Mir, president, Kani Shawl Karigaran Union.
Mir said the trade was going well in the Valley a few years ago. “But last two years have proved very ominous due to many reasons including one that too many middlemen have come in this trade,” he said.
Mir said some “bad guys” had done a great damage to this great art. “A few unscrupulous agents who acted as middlemen procured the kani shawls from the manufacturers and sold them in the market at lower rates without giving the due to the manufacturers.”
He said although these agents have now been checked and the dealers were now directly procuring the shawls from the manufacturers, “but the damage was done and the rates came down.”
But many in the trade said the wages have waned because the demand for the shawls has come down due to global slowdown. According to the artisans their wages have been reduced by 50 per cent in the last two years. “We are poor artisans and are not able to buy the raw material to work independently. We work for the manufacturers who pay us wages according to the market trend. Presently as our manufacturers are not able to sell the shawls at a profitable rate so they are reducing our wages,” said Rouf Ahmad, an artisan who is involved with the weaving of Kani Shawl for the past eight years.
The weaving of a Kani shawl is a very painstaking job. Several kanis or small wooden sticks carrying threads of different colors are used for the weaving of these shawls.
These sticks are used as spool by the artisans to weave the shawl. “We have to work extremely hard to make a kani shawl. The process to prepare a Kani shawl is very complex and it needs lot of patience. The complexity involved is such that many of the artisans need the support of an artificial light in the broad day light. Also it is so complex and intricate that a person cannot pursue the art after the age of 60 or 70 years,” said Shabir Ahmad Kar.
The artisans said that there are around 50,000 families in the valley who are directly or indirectly involved with the craft. “However 35,000 families are entirely dependent on this craft for earning their livelihood,” they said.
“Kani shawl weaving is extremely time consuming and it takes one person a year to produce one shawl. It requires enormous amount of concentration as an artisan cannot weave beyond an inch a day while being at the loom. The shawl usually has a length of 81 inches,” they added.
“There is a great range of the designs available in the Pashmina Kani Shawl and the price is decided according to the quality of the design. The price usually runs between Rs 70,000 to one lakh,” said the artisans.
However the artisans maintained that since the past two years the quality is mattered. “I am doing this work for the last seven years. Initially I was earning Rs 300 per day but presently I am only given Rs 60 or 70 which I feel is the grave injustice to us. It is a very hard labour and despite of working so hard I am not able to support my parents as I am the sole earning member in my family,” said Khursheed Ahmad Pehalwan an artisan.
KANI SHAWL
Nazia Akhtar (Greater Kashmir)
Srinagar: A wonderful trade of Kashmir known world over for its beauty of art is currently facing difficult times with artisans leaving this trade citing low wages.
The Kani Shawl, according to the men in this trade, is fast losing its artisans for they find it difficult to sustain themselves with the meager wages they earn in this trade.
The artisans said the wages have dropped sharply during the last two years.
“Presently an artisan weaving a Kani Shawl is earning less than a hundred rupees a day. However before two years the same artisan was earning Rs 250 per day. So the wages instead of increasing have decreased in the last two years that has further added to the problems of the artisans,” said Ghulam Muhammad Mir, president, Kani Shawl Karigaran Union.
Mir said the trade was going well in the Valley a few years ago. “But last two years have proved very ominous due to many reasons including one that too many middlemen have come in this trade,” he said.
Mir said some “bad guys” had done a great damage to this great art. “A few unscrupulous agents who acted as middlemen procured the kani shawls from the manufacturers and sold them in the market at lower rates without giving the due to the manufacturers.”
He said although these agents have now been checked and the dealers were now directly procuring the shawls from the manufacturers, “but the damage was done and the rates came down.”
But many in the trade said the wages have waned because the demand for the shawls has come down due to global slowdown. According to the artisans their wages have been reduced by 50 per cent in the last two years. “We are poor artisans and are not able to buy the raw material to work independently. We work for the manufacturers who pay us wages according to the market trend. Presently as our manufacturers are not able to sell the shawls at a profitable rate so they are reducing our wages,” said Rouf Ahmad, an artisan who is involved with the weaving of Kani Shawl for the past eight years.
The weaving of a Kani shawl is a very painstaking job. Several kanis or small wooden sticks carrying threads of different colors are used for the weaving of these shawls.
These sticks are used as spool by the artisans to weave the shawl. “We have to work extremely hard to make a kani shawl. The process to prepare a Kani shawl is very complex and it needs lot of patience. The complexity involved is such that many of the artisans need the support of an artificial light in the broad day light. Also it is so complex and intricate that a person cannot pursue the art after the age of 60 or 70 years,” said Shabir Ahmad Kar.
The artisans said that there are around 50,000 families in the valley who are directly or indirectly involved with the craft. “However 35,000 families are entirely dependent on this craft for earning their livelihood,” they said.
“Kani shawl weaving is extremely time consuming and it takes one person a year to produce one shawl. It requires enormous amount of concentration as an artisan cannot weave beyond an inch a day while being at the loom. The shawl usually has a length of 81 inches,” they added.
“There is a great range of the designs available in the Pashmina Kani Shawl and the price is decided according to the quality of the design. The price usually runs between Rs 70,000 to one lakh,” said the artisans.
However the artisans maintained that since the past two years the quality is mattered. “I am doing this work for the last seven years. Initially I was earning Rs 300 per day but presently I am only given Rs 60 or 70 which I feel is the grave injustice to us. It is a very hard labour and despite of working so hard I am not able to support my parents as I am the sole earning member in my family,” said Khursheed Ahmad Pehalwan an artisan.
FROM NEGLECT TO REGRESS: Industrial Estate, Barzulla
Yet another proof that things only go from bad to worse in Kashmir
Barzulla industrial estate in shambles
Srinagar: For prosperity of the industrial sector, state government’s Industrial Policy 2004 promises “improved infrastructure and support services, with emphasis on regular and uninterrupted power supply”. But exactly the opposite seems to be taking place at Industrial Estate Barzulla, which is oldest in the Valley, and nearest to the City centre.
Established in 1959, the estate caters to some 50 industrial units with hundreds of workers on-rolls. The estate is, however, yet to get drinking water supply even though it lies in the posh Sanat Nagar suburb. Besides, sheds housing the factories haven’t been repaired for years while power supply remains erratic. But well the dilapidated of roads first.
ROAD REGRESS
Blacktopping of the estate roads was done some three decades ago. Since then, the unit-holders say, no repairs were made, despite repeated appeals.
Finally, failing to pool resources, the authorities adopted a novel solution: Instead of blacktopping, they recently “repaired” the macadamized roads using black-cutting and stone dust, which is a comparatively cheap and obsolete alternative.
The road “repairs” proved detrimental.
“Till now there were only potholes but now billows of dust have added to our woes,” said Mukhtar Yusuf, secretary general of the association of the unit holders.
“It’s seems the authorities lack commonsense, or they deliberately want to put us on a reverse gear. Otherwise where else does it happen in the world that boulders replace blacktopping?” Yusuf argued.
Pleading the primitive type of road repairs, officials said they were running short of money.
“We though something is better than nothing and so made the repairs,” they said adding proposal has been sent for macadamization as well.
WATER WOES
In 2007, firefighters had a tough time extinguishing blazes fuming out of a factory at the industrial estate as there was no source of water.
In fact, the estate is yet to get even drinking water facility.
Ironically, even though pipes were laid a few years ago, they rusted even before being connected to the main supply line running outside.
The unit holders had voiced complaint against the Small Scale Industrial Development Corporation (SICOP), accusing the project executing agency of using sub-standard material.
Official sources said even though an inquiry was ordered into the laying of water supply lines, the findings were never made public.
And so the estate is yet to get drinking water supply than to talk any water point for firefighting.
SICOP AFFECTED DRAIN
Work on drainage was started around two years ago but is yet not complete due to slow pace of work.
On this front, however, there was no shortage of funds.
The sources said the SICOP was given Rs 40 odd lakh for the work.
“But they worked on snail pace and the project is yet not complete,” said some unit holders while pointing towards an uncovered drain.
ERRATIC POWER
In stark contrast of the industrial policy, the estate doesn’t get the uninterrupted supply.
This has badly affected work at units like steel fabrication plants and a printing press.
“We can’t use gensets for doing steel fabrication work like welding. So when ever the power goes off, our business suffers,” explained a unit holder adding that they face power cuts for a couple of ours everyday.
KASHMIR INC ANNOYED
Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) is all fire against the successive regimes accusing them of “victimizing the Kashmir Inc”.
“Unless the government sheds its negative approach towards Kashmir Inc and adopts a healthy policy, our industries will continue to suffer,” said Syed Shakeel Qalander, president FCIK.
Referring to his recent meeting with chairman Finance Commission, Qalander recalled: “I told them that our industrial sector gives a look of graveyard for the want of funds.”
He said when industrial estate Barzulla, which is too close to the Airport road frequented by VIPs, was in shambles, the plight of the estates elsewhere could only be imagined.
OFFICIALS SPEAK
An official with directorate of Industries and Commerce, Kashmir said there was shortage of resources, which affect development of the industrial sector.
“We have many plans for improvement but we lack money. Still we’ll try our best,” said the official requesting not to be named.
(Greater Kashmir)
Barzulla industrial estate in shambles
Srinagar: For prosperity of the industrial sector, state government’s Industrial Policy 2004 promises “improved infrastructure and support services, with emphasis on regular and uninterrupted power supply”. But exactly the opposite seems to be taking place at Industrial Estate Barzulla, which is oldest in the Valley, and nearest to the City centre.
Established in 1959, the estate caters to some 50 industrial units with hundreds of workers on-rolls. The estate is, however, yet to get drinking water supply even though it lies in the posh Sanat Nagar suburb. Besides, sheds housing the factories haven’t been repaired for years while power supply remains erratic. But well the dilapidated of roads first.
ROAD REGRESS
Blacktopping of the estate roads was done some three decades ago. Since then, the unit-holders say, no repairs were made, despite repeated appeals.
Finally, failing to pool resources, the authorities adopted a novel solution: Instead of blacktopping, they recently “repaired” the macadamized roads using black-cutting and stone dust, which is a comparatively cheap and obsolete alternative.
The road “repairs” proved detrimental.
“Till now there were only potholes but now billows of dust have added to our woes,” said Mukhtar Yusuf, secretary general of the association of the unit holders.
“It’s seems the authorities lack commonsense, or they deliberately want to put us on a reverse gear. Otherwise where else does it happen in the world that boulders replace blacktopping?” Yusuf argued.
Pleading the primitive type of road repairs, officials said they were running short of money.
“We though something is better than nothing and so made the repairs,” they said adding proposal has been sent for macadamization as well.
WATER WOES
In 2007, firefighters had a tough time extinguishing blazes fuming out of a factory at the industrial estate as there was no source of water.
In fact, the estate is yet to get even drinking water facility.
Ironically, even though pipes were laid a few years ago, they rusted even before being connected to the main supply line running outside.
The unit holders had voiced complaint against the Small Scale Industrial Development Corporation (SICOP), accusing the project executing agency of using sub-standard material.
Official sources said even though an inquiry was ordered into the laying of water supply lines, the findings were never made public.
And so the estate is yet to get drinking water supply than to talk any water point for firefighting.
SICOP AFFECTED DRAIN
Work on drainage was started around two years ago but is yet not complete due to slow pace of work.
On this front, however, there was no shortage of funds.
The sources said the SICOP was given Rs 40 odd lakh for the work.
“But they worked on snail pace and the project is yet not complete,” said some unit holders while pointing towards an uncovered drain.
ERRATIC POWER
In stark contrast of the industrial policy, the estate doesn’t get the uninterrupted supply.
This has badly affected work at units like steel fabrication plants and a printing press.
“We can’t use gensets for doing steel fabrication work like welding. So when ever the power goes off, our business suffers,” explained a unit holder adding that they face power cuts for a couple of ours everyday.
KASHMIR INC ANNOYED
Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) is all fire against the successive regimes accusing them of “victimizing the Kashmir Inc”.
“Unless the government sheds its negative approach towards Kashmir Inc and adopts a healthy policy, our industries will continue to suffer,” said Syed Shakeel Qalander, president FCIK.
Referring to his recent meeting with chairman Finance Commission, Qalander recalled: “I told them that our industrial sector gives a look of graveyard for the want of funds.”
He said when industrial estate Barzulla, which is too close to the Airport road frequented by VIPs, was in shambles, the plight of the estates elsewhere could only be imagined.
OFFICIALS SPEAK
An official with directorate of Industries and Commerce, Kashmir said there was shortage of resources, which affect development of the industrial sector.
“We have many plans for improvement but we lack money. Still we’ll try our best,” said the official requesting not to be named.
(Greater Kashmir)
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