A public-private partnership provides a win-win situation for valley florists
Floriculture Department Ropes in Beauscape Farms
Abrar Lone (Rising Kashmir)
Srinagar: The Valley florists at last have something to cheer about as Beauscape Farms – a Punjab based flower and vegetable exporter shall procure the flower produce of Kashmir growers. The firm has been roped in by the department of Floriculture, to provide marketing support to flower growers who were badly hit due Amaranth land row last year and global recession this year.
Director Floriculture, Dr. G S Naqash is happy about the development and appreciated Beauscape Farms for starting dealings with the Valley growers.
“We have studied their model and are serious in entering into dealings with the firm. This is for the benefit of the growers who should get their money on time,” Naqash said while introducing the firm to the valley based growers in the department premises here.
“We will provide technical assistance to the growers under technology mission and in this context we had a meeting in Jammu last time in which it was decided that floriculture shall not be dependant on agriculture for inputs and other things,” the director said.
Avtar Singh the promoter of Beauscape Farms said, “We grow and export vegetable, flower seeds and plant material and have 300 growers attached with us in Karnataka and 500 in Punjab.”
“We export vegetable, flowers, seeds and agriculture material and plan to get more and more growers tied with us.”
Singh said that the firm has been in the market for 24 years now and has dealings with major companies at international level. We plan to get more and more growers tied with us from Kashmir, he said.
“Our motive is to produce best crop for export and we already have established relationships with dealers and distributors in international market and providing potential market to valley growers is no issue for us”, Singh added.
The growers admitted that they are not totally aware about the technicalities required in floriculture.
“Despite getting good produce, we incur losses due to lack of marketing support. We don’t know where to deliver our crops at the time of harvest and how to tap potential customers,” an elderly grower said.
Another grower, Zakir Hussian told Rising Kashmir that growers here tend to destroy some of the produce during harvest as they have no idea about the end use of the stuff.
“Growers are least aware about harvesting of flowers and as such tend to destroy their crop at the time of the harvest. Department should play its role in awaking the growers”, said Zakir.
Jammu and Kashmir is the only State in India that enjoys four distinct climatic conditions (temperate, Sub-tropical, Sub-temperate and cold arid) and well defined seasons which favors cultivation of varied kinds and varieties of flowers and bulbs.
Naqash however said that their job is to facilitate each and everything to the growers.
“We are being paid to provide technical support and market to growers”, he said.
Production manager Beauscape Farms, Sukhvinder Singh said, “We will provide Rs 125 per kilogram for cosmos to the growers, Rs 150 for Nasturtium, Rs 1200 for Zinnia and Rs 200 for Elysium.”
Monday, April 13, 2009
Culture Neutral: Persian Archives Meet (Almost) the Same Fate as Sanskrit Archives
Iqbal finds that after Sanskrit was replaced by Persian in the late 14th century, Kashmiri Sultans did not do much for preserving Persian documents either. Now, the situation is even more pressing: who will archive the material?
(Mr. Iqbal Ahmad, 48, was born in Parigam Chek, Kulgam. He is a graduate with Diploma in Numastics, Archaeology and Heritage. He is an archaeologist, writer, and a cultural historian. Mr. Iqbal Ahmad has published 12 reference books on Kashmir archaeology and heritage.)
Neglected Persian records of Kashmir
Apart from Sanskrit records of Kashmir which have been neglected and are decaying in various manuscript collections, our Persian documents and manuscripts too have not been given any special or deserving treatment. As a result, most of them are facing a similar crisis.
Most of these manuscripts are still undescribed and un-translated. Resultantly, many of the manuscript collections are un-catalogued and undocumented.
Like Sanskrit works, these Persian documents have also become an outdated literature which have got very few scholars who can decipher and explain the meaning of these works to the common reader. For a layman it is better to know what is Persian and what does it really mean? Perhaps, very few people may be aware of Persians glorious heritage. While for the rest of our educated youth Persian is no more than an Iranian language.
No doubt when we define Persian in simple terms we can say that it is an Iranian dialect which is still prevalent there. But for Persian scholars and historians, it significance in context of Kashmiri culture and history is very much established. Since the decline of Sanskrit, it was Persian who filled a literary gap here. Historically speaking, Persian evolved here in late 14th century AD when Shahmiri Sultans founded Muslim Sultanate in Kashmir.
Since the 14th Century to 20th Century, Persian found a strong base in the whole of Kashmir. It served as the official language of the people here for centuries together; besides it was also taught formerly in local madarrases. It was in the period of NC’s founder and former Kashmir prime minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah that a new education policy was formulated and Persian was introduced as one of the languages for school education.
Kashmiri Pandits had also learned this language and their contribution to its promotion was very much outstanding. Persian originally emerged from Persian present Iran but it got cultivated in Kashmir. Of its religious significance, most of religious scripts for Muslims where available in this script. It was much earlier than Arabic. It was also language of Muslim missionaries who introduced it in Kashmiri Khanqah’s and Madarassas.
Just like Arabic, it was obligatory for every Muslim of the sub-continent to learn it. In fact the contribution of Muslims to promotion of this Iranian dialect was well understood. Because they then needed it to learn so as to understand their religious teachings. What was more significant and surprising, obviously, was the role which Pandits played in development of this language and its literature.
Among Kashmiri Pandits, the name of Munshi Bhawanidas Kachru stands pre-eminently among Persian writers and poets. The original style of his Bahri-tavil is held in high esteem. Pandit Taba Ram Turki, Satram Baqaya, Daya Kachru, Aftab Bhan, Gobind Koul, Kailash Dhar and a number of other Pandits’ contributions to development of Persian literature are well mentioned in several Persian accounts of this land.
When we classify our written and official languages, we know that Prakrit was the earliest dialect of northern India, it was followed by Sanskrit. When Sanskrit discontinued it was Persian which took over Sanskrit learning in this part of the world. Thousands of books were written in this language which covered almost all the fields of education and literature.
Those were the glorious periods for Persian language and literature. However, things changed, Persian could not stand the new cultural and literary invasions. A time reached when this script became outdated. Consequently, it was dropped from the school curriculum. The Urdu and English languages filled the official language vacuum. Notwithstanding the fact that Persian is still taught in few government universities and colleges, but it is totally abandoned from local Muslim madarassas; which in fact is shocking.
Despite its religious and literary significance and background, Persian should never have got such a punishment from the Muslim Darasgahs. Why the present Darasgahs dropped it from their curriculum? No one knows better than the management of these religious institutions. They may have some logic in neglect of this Iranian dialect.
To promote Persian as a language is not my point, my concern is about its neglected heritage. Like Sanskrit manuscripts, the Persian manuscripts are scattered in a number of collections, which are mostly unidentified and undescribed.
Its translations have not been taken up so seriously. At most of these places, the manuscripts are neither documented nor catalogued. Although we know that we cannot revive and restore back its pristine glory, still we could have made an effort to accord it a better treatment.
We need to bring its scattered manuscripts and documents under one umbrella and preserve those for future generations. To understand the philosophy, history, culture and moral values hidden in these Persian manuscripts, we could have encouraged its systematic translation into new and prevalent languages of this land.
Almost all the sufic philosophic traditions and rituals are preserved in this language. Let us not again wait for Kashmiri Pandits to undertake the documentation of these manuscripts and free ourselves from this moral responsibility. The job is ours. Lets do it.
(Mr. Iqbal Ahmad, 48, was born in Parigam Chek, Kulgam. He is a graduate with Diploma in Numastics, Archaeology and Heritage. He is an archaeologist, writer, and a cultural historian. Mr. Iqbal Ahmad has published 12 reference books on Kashmir archaeology and heritage.)
Neglected Persian records of Kashmir
Apart from Sanskrit records of Kashmir which have been neglected and are decaying in various manuscript collections, our Persian documents and manuscripts too have not been given any special or deserving treatment. As a result, most of them are facing a similar crisis.
Most of these manuscripts are still undescribed and un-translated. Resultantly, many of the manuscript collections are un-catalogued and undocumented.
Like Sanskrit works, these Persian documents have also become an outdated literature which have got very few scholars who can decipher and explain the meaning of these works to the common reader. For a layman it is better to know what is Persian and what does it really mean? Perhaps, very few people may be aware of Persians glorious heritage. While for the rest of our educated youth Persian is no more than an Iranian language.
No doubt when we define Persian in simple terms we can say that it is an Iranian dialect which is still prevalent there. But for Persian scholars and historians, it significance in context of Kashmiri culture and history is very much established. Since the decline of Sanskrit, it was Persian who filled a literary gap here. Historically speaking, Persian evolved here in late 14th century AD when Shahmiri Sultans founded Muslim Sultanate in Kashmir.
Since the 14th Century to 20th Century, Persian found a strong base in the whole of Kashmir. It served as the official language of the people here for centuries together; besides it was also taught formerly in local madarrases. It was in the period of NC’s founder and former Kashmir prime minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah that a new education policy was formulated and Persian was introduced as one of the languages for school education.
Kashmiri Pandits had also learned this language and their contribution to its promotion was very much outstanding. Persian originally emerged from Persian present Iran but it got cultivated in Kashmir. Of its religious significance, most of religious scripts for Muslims where available in this script. It was much earlier than Arabic. It was also language of Muslim missionaries who introduced it in Kashmiri Khanqah’s and Madarassas.
Just like Arabic, it was obligatory for every Muslim of the sub-continent to learn it. In fact the contribution of Muslims to promotion of this Iranian dialect was well understood. Because they then needed it to learn so as to understand their religious teachings. What was more significant and surprising, obviously, was the role which Pandits played in development of this language and its literature.
Among Kashmiri Pandits, the name of Munshi Bhawanidas Kachru stands pre-eminently among Persian writers and poets. The original style of his Bahri-tavil is held in high esteem. Pandit Taba Ram Turki, Satram Baqaya, Daya Kachru, Aftab Bhan, Gobind Koul, Kailash Dhar and a number of other Pandits’ contributions to development of Persian literature are well mentioned in several Persian accounts of this land.
When we classify our written and official languages, we know that Prakrit was the earliest dialect of northern India, it was followed by Sanskrit. When Sanskrit discontinued it was Persian which took over Sanskrit learning in this part of the world. Thousands of books were written in this language which covered almost all the fields of education and literature.
Those were the glorious periods for Persian language and literature. However, things changed, Persian could not stand the new cultural and literary invasions. A time reached when this script became outdated. Consequently, it was dropped from the school curriculum. The Urdu and English languages filled the official language vacuum. Notwithstanding the fact that Persian is still taught in few government universities and colleges, but it is totally abandoned from local Muslim madarassas; which in fact is shocking.
Despite its religious and literary significance and background, Persian should never have got such a punishment from the Muslim Darasgahs. Why the present Darasgahs dropped it from their curriculum? No one knows better than the management of these religious institutions. They may have some logic in neglect of this Iranian dialect.
To promote Persian as a language is not my point, my concern is about its neglected heritage. Like Sanskrit manuscripts, the Persian manuscripts are scattered in a number of collections, which are mostly unidentified and undescribed.
Its translations have not been taken up so seriously. At most of these places, the manuscripts are neither documented nor catalogued. Although we know that we cannot revive and restore back its pristine glory, still we could have made an effort to accord it a better treatment.
We need to bring its scattered manuscripts and documents under one umbrella and preserve those for future generations. To understand the philosophy, history, culture and moral values hidden in these Persian manuscripts, we could have encouraged its systematic translation into new and prevalent languages of this land.
Almost all the sufic philosophic traditions and rituals are preserved in this language. Let us not again wait for Kashmiri Pandits to undertake the documentation of these manuscripts and free ourselves from this moral responsibility. The job is ours. Lets do it.
"Before Inviting Tourists, Please Take Care of the Hosts"
An editorial in the Rising Kashmir speaks about the chronic delusion otherwise called water logging in Srinagar
Srinagar waterlogged: This city urgently needs an integrated deep drainage system
The absence of integrated deep drainage system in Srinagar has led to the flooding of the streets and market places of this city. During past few days the consistent showers have made the life of a city dweller unimaginably difficult as the lanes and by lanes in the residential areas are completely submerged under the rainwater. Not just this, the main roads too have turned into pools of water. In such a situation, calling Srinagar a city is oxymoronic.
While talking to different officers that are working for various government departments related to managing the drainage network of Srinagar it comes to light that only a small portion of city is covered under deep drain network and rest of the areas are left unattended. Further, the dewatering stations that must be established at the terminal of every drainage network are not functional. In this kind of a situation inundation of roads and squares in Srinagar is bound to occur.
One aspect of the functioning of various related department is extremely off putting. The absence of any coherence between the working of these departments is at the bottom of things not improving in this regard. If a slew of departments are supposed to do the networking of deep drains in Srinagar without any proper coordination among them, how can a viable deep drainage system come about in this city? The absence of coordination has been talked about by the people of this state not once or twice, but consistently, as people have been witnessing the wastage of money, that actually belongs to them, when one department lays the road one day and the very next day another department digs it for some other purpose. It has been a salient feature of public works system in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
One simple question that comes to mind is that why can’t government coordinate different departments? In this era of speedy communication why is it difficult to get things done in a coordinated manner? The resources pumped in through various departments can be better utilized if there is a single point application of a project. If it is not possible to put in place another department that can act as an overarching organization, at least any project started by a government department should include works that normally fall under other departments, so that public work becomes a priority and not the official trappings. In case of the deep drainage system government need to integrate the departments first before the network is integrated. It should be the priority of this government to make Srinagar city worth living. Before inviting tourists, please take care of the hosts!
Srinagar waterlogged: This city urgently needs an integrated deep drainage system
The absence of integrated deep drainage system in Srinagar has led to the flooding of the streets and market places of this city. During past few days the consistent showers have made the life of a city dweller unimaginably difficult as the lanes and by lanes in the residential areas are completely submerged under the rainwater. Not just this, the main roads too have turned into pools of water. In such a situation, calling Srinagar a city is oxymoronic.
While talking to different officers that are working for various government departments related to managing the drainage network of Srinagar it comes to light that only a small portion of city is covered under deep drain network and rest of the areas are left unattended. Further, the dewatering stations that must be established at the terminal of every drainage network are not functional. In this kind of a situation inundation of roads and squares in Srinagar is bound to occur.
One aspect of the functioning of various related department is extremely off putting. The absence of any coherence between the working of these departments is at the bottom of things not improving in this regard. If a slew of departments are supposed to do the networking of deep drains in Srinagar without any proper coordination among them, how can a viable deep drainage system come about in this city? The absence of coordination has been talked about by the people of this state not once or twice, but consistently, as people have been witnessing the wastage of money, that actually belongs to them, when one department lays the road one day and the very next day another department digs it for some other purpose. It has been a salient feature of public works system in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
One simple question that comes to mind is that why can’t government coordinate different departments? In this era of speedy communication why is it difficult to get things done in a coordinated manner? The resources pumped in through various departments can be better utilized if there is a single point application of a project. If it is not possible to put in place another department that can act as an overarching organization, at least any project started by a government department should include works that normally fall under other departments, so that public work becomes a priority and not the official trappings. In case of the deep drainage system government need to integrate the departments first before the network is integrated. It should be the priority of this government to make Srinagar city worth living. Before inviting tourists, please take care of the hosts!
Environmental Challanges Facing the Mughal Road
Zahoor describes the situation that led to the Supreme Court decision on July 25, 2007 related to the Mughal Road Project
(Mr. Zahoor Wani is a Srinagar based journalist specializing in environmental issues.)
Revival of a historic road
The revival of a historic road should ordinarily not attract the wrath of conservationists. But in Jammu and Kashmir it did. The state government's decision to upgrade the almost five century-old Mughal Road is being opposed by conservationists who believe that it will fragment the habitat of the highly-endangered markhor goat. The Supreme Court has intervened in the matter, giving a conditional go-ahead to the state government's plans.
The 83.9-km long Mughal Road connects Shopian town in Kashmir with Poonch in the Jammu region.
Its origins are said to lie in the Mughal conquest of Kashmir in 1586. Mughal forces had taken this route to conquer the Kashmir valley. The road is now being used by trekkers. The 300-km Jammu-Srinagar highway is currently the only motorable road linking the valley with the rest of the country. But maintaining it has proved a tough task for the Jammu and Kashmir government. This highway cuts across a mountainous terrain, is prone to landslides, avalanches and other natural vagaries.
In 1980, the then chief minister of the state, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, had mooted the upgradation of the Mughal Road as a supplementary road link to the highway. Construction began in 1983, but was stalled with the onset of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. Work on the road resumed in October 2005. The construction order was challenged almost immediately by the Kashmir-based NGO Bio-diversity Conservation Trust. In a writ petition to the Supreme Court, NGO representatives said construction work would affect the region's biodiversity—the movement of wild animals, especially the Markhor goat, would be disturbed.
This was a serious allegation because the animal is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN's) Red List of highly endangered wild animals and is also named in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the Jammu Kashmir Wildlife Protection Act, 1978 (amended in 2002). Bio-diversity Conservation Trust's chief grouse is that the road will bisect the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary into the north-western alpine area and the south eastern area, which is spread over alpine as well as forest ecosystems. Around 67 hectares (ha) will be diverted, the conservationists alleged.
What got the short shrift? Fazal Ali Ansari, managing trustee of Green Kashmir, a Srinagar-based NGO, argues, "We need an alternate road for winters when the Jammu-Srinagar highway is closed, but the mountainous range along the Mughal Road always gets early and heavy snow. So it's a delusion to think it will supplement the highway. The road is being constructed through an eco-sensitive zone.'
M Y Yousuf, director of the University of Kashmir's Centre of Research for Development (cord) agrees: "The environmental clearances were not in place and the road was being constructed without an environment management plan. It's true that the initial construction work on the Mughal road began before Hirpora was notified as a sanctuary. But over the years there has been little coordination between government departments concerned.'
Yousuf says the state government sought environmental clearances only after conservationists took the matter to court. Cord was asked to submit an environmental impact assessment report to the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board. The report, submitted in January 2006, said the road would cut through 67 ha of the Hirpora sanctuary disturbing the habitat of the Markhor. It questioned the utility of the project saying, "3.63 km of the road is highly landslide prone and around 20 km of road length on either side of Pir Panjal pass have snow bound sections'.
It added: "Road construction activity in itself would result in cutting of many trees, which in turn would have a cascading effect on the associated biota. Besides, traffic on the road may cause death of many animals that utilise verge habitats or try to cross the road…The presence of motor vehicles may introduce the potential for contamination of soil, air and water adjacent to the road and in the case of surface water, well beyond the immediate surroundings. Chronic contamination may become a problem for animal species, especially those at the top of the food chain... .'
Environmentalists blame Jammu and Kashmir's wildlife department for the omissions. AK Srivastava, chief wildlife warden, does not deny the charges. "When the initial construction work began, environmental conservation was not given significance,' he says. But he also says that the department lacks personnel. "Presently we have only five employees deputed in the area,' he explains. "We have submitted a Markhor Recovery Plan for the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary to the Union ministry of environment and forests which has been approved. Also, the state government has agreed to provide Rs 10 crore to our department for protection of the Markhor.'
On July 25, 2007, the Supreme Court gave a conditional go-ahead to the Mughal Road project, on the recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC)—the body which advises it on forest-related matters. The conditions imposed include:
A complete ban on movement by graziers through the sanctuaries and the conservation areas. An alternative corridor/road and grazing areas outside and away from the sanctuary areas should be earmarked to enable the nomads to move and graze their livestock.
The sanctuary/conservation areas which neighbour human settlements should be fenced to prevent poaching and other illegal activities.
An additional 149 sq km located on the eastern side of the sanctuary, which is presently in the possession of Pir Panjal forest division, should be included in the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary
The Species Recovery Programme for Markhors prepared by the Jammu and Kashmir's wildlife department be implemented
Five per cent of the project cost be deposited in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund by the user agency for undertaking conservation and protection work in the sanctuary
The apex court's order has drawn mixed reactions. Srivastava welcomed the decision to charge 5 per cent from the project developers for the development of the sanctuary. "We plan to take up fencing, demarcation, infrastructure development, afforestation, development of ecotourism and other works with the fund,' he said.
Yousuf, however, does not vest much hope with the department. He notes that Hirpora sanctuary's management plans for 2006-2011 do not take cognisance of recommendations made in the road's environment management plan. "Specially neglected are recommendations to create facilities that will allow uninhibited movement of animals in the sanctuary,' he says. Other experts doubt the practicability of some of CEC's recommendations. Political compulsions will make it almost impossible to implement the ban on graziers, they say.
Khurshid-ul-Alam, an environmentalist at the Centre for Human Development, another Srinagar-based NGO, has the last word, "The affair is a mistake of the past. We need to amend it.'
(Mr. Zahoor Wani is a Srinagar based journalist specializing in environmental issues.)
Revival of a historic road
The revival of a historic road should ordinarily not attract the wrath of conservationists. But in Jammu and Kashmir it did. The state government's decision to upgrade the almost five century-old Mughal Road is being opposed by conservationists who believe that it will fragment the habitat of the highly-endangered markhor goat. The Supreme Court has intervened in the matter, giving a conditional go-ahead to the state government's plans.
The 83.9-km long Mughal Road connects Shopian town in Kashmir with Poonch in the Jammu region.
Its origins are said to lie in the Mughal conquest of Kashmir in 1586. Mughal forces had taken this route to conquer the Kashmir valley. The road is now being used by trekkers. The 300-km Jammu-Srinagar highway is currently the only motorable road linking the valley with the rest of the country. But maintaining it has proved a tough task for the Jammu and Kashmir government. This highway cuts across a mountainous terrain, is prone to landslides, avalanches and other natural vagaries.
In 1980, the then chief minister of the state, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, had mooted the upgradation of the Mughal Road as a supplementary road link to the highway. Construction began in 1983, but was stalled with the onset of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. Work on the road resumed in October 2005. The construction order was challenged almost immediately by the Kashmir-based NGO Bio-diversity Conservation Trust. In a writ petition to the Supreme Court, NGO representatives said construction work would affect the region's biodiversity—the movement of wild animals, especially the Markhor goat, would be disturbed.
This was a serious allegation because the animal is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN's) Red List of highly endangered wild animals and is also named in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the Jammu Kashmir Wildlife Protection Act, 1978 (amended in 2002). Bio-diversity Conservation Trust's chief grouse is that the road will bisect the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary into the north-western alpine area and the south eastern area, which is spread over alpine as well as forest ecosystems. Around 67 hectares (ha) will be diverted, the conservationists alleged.
What got the short shrift? Fazal Ali Ansari, managing trustee of Green Kashmir, a Srinagar-based NGO, argues, "We need an alternate road for winters when the Jammu-Srinagar highway is closed, but the mountainous range along the Mughal Road always gets early and heavy snow. So it's a delusion to think it will supplement the highway. The road is being constructed through an eco-sensitive zone.'
M Y Yousuf, director of the University of Kashmir's Centre of Research for Development (cord) agrees: "The environmental clearances were not in place and the road was being constructed without an environment management plan. It's true that the initial construction work on the Mughal road began before Hirpora was notified as a sanctuary. But over the years there has been little coordination between government departments concerned.'
Yousuf says the state government sought environmental clearances only after conservationists took the matter to court. Cord was asked to submit an environmental impact assessment report to the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board. The report, submitted in January 2006, said the road would cut through 67 ha of the Hirpora sanctuary disturbing the habitat of the Markhor. It questioned the utility of the project saying, "3.63 km of the road is highly landslide prone and around 20 km of road length on either side of Pir Panjal pass have snow bound sections'.
It added: "Road construction activity in itself would result in cutting of many trees, which in turn would have a cascading effect on the associated biota. Besides, traffic on the road may cause death of many animals that utilise verge habitats or try to cross the road…The presence of motor vehicles may introduce the potential for contamination of soil, air and water adjacent to the road and in the case of surface water, well beyond the immediate surroundings. Chronic contamination may become a problem for animal species, especially those at the top of the food chain... .'
Environmentalists blame Jammu and Kashmir's wildlife department for the omissions. AK Srivastava, chief wildlife warden, does not deny the charges. "When the initial construction work began, environmental conservation was not given significance,' he says. But he also says that the department lacks personnel. "Presently we have only five employees deputed in the area,' he explains. "We have submitted a Markhor Recovery Plan for the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary to the Union ministry of environment and forests which has been approved. Also, the state government has agreed to provide Rs 10 crore to our department for protection of the Markhor.'
On July 25, 2007, the Supreme Court gave a conditional go-ahead to the Mughal Road project, on the recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC)—the body which advises it on forest-related matters. The conditions imposed include:
A complete ban on movement by graziers through the sanctuaries and the conservation areas. An alternative corridor/road and grazing areas outside and away from the sanctuary areas should be earmarked to enable the nomads to move and graze their livestock.
The sanctuary/conservation areas which neighbour human settlements should be fenced to prevent poaching and other illegal activities.
An additional 149 sq km located on the eastern side of the sanctuary, which is presently in the possession of Pir Panjal forest division, should be included in the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary
The Species Recovery Programme for Markhors prepared by the Jammu and Kashmir's wildlife department be implemented
Five per cent of the project cost be deposited in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund by the user agency for undertaking conservation and protection work in the sanctuary
The apex court's order has drawn mixed reactions. Srivastava welcomed the decision to charge 5 per cent from the project developers for the development of the sanctuary. "We plan to take up fencing, demarcation, infrastructure development, afforestation, development of ecotourism and other works with the fund,' he said.
Yousuf, however, does not vest much hope with the department. He notes that Hirpora sanctuary's management plans for 2006-2011 do not take cognisance of recommendations made in the road's environment management plan. "Specially neglected are recommendations to create facilities that will allow uninhibited movement of animals in the sanctuary,' he says. Other experts doubt the practicability of some of CEC's recommendations. Political compulsions will make it almost impossible to implement the ban on graziers, they say.
Khurshid-ul-Alam, an environmentalist at the Centre for Human Development, another Srinagar-based NGO, has the last word, "The affair is a mistake of the past. We need to amend it.'
Fake Doctors Operating in Srinagar's Premier Medical Facility
Kashmiri gullibility to trust one and all creates problems everywhere
Fake Doctors Busy In SMHS, Held
Srinagar: In an audacious case of impersonation, two persons, one of them a woman, have been found to be posing as doctors in Srinagar’s premier medical facility, the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital, and looting gullible patients and their attendants right under the noses of authorities.
Both were arrested in a sudden operation by the Karan Nagar police today, and have confessed to their counterfeit activities.
Identified as Parvez Ahmad Sheikh of Bemina and Rabia of Barzulla, the duo was caught red-handed extracting money from patients after the police sealed off the hospital and began a hunt for the fake doctors.
Clad in white aprons with very medical-looking stethoscopes dangling around their necks, the twosome would pursue unsuspecting patients with their assurance and sweet talk, and make them part with their money.
Though it is possible to pass muster in the hospital bustling with white-coated and stethoscope-toting figures for some time, it is not clear how the duo avoided rousing suspicion for so long in the busy premises where doctors are a close-knit community.
When contacted, the Karan Nagar police confirmed arresting only one person, saying that a case had been registered and further investigations started.
(Kashmir Observer)
Fake Doctors Busy In SMHS, Held
Srinagar: In an audacious case of impersonation, two persons, one of them a woman, have been found to be posing as doctors in Srinagar’s premier medical facility, the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital, and looting gullible patients and their attendants right under the noses of authorities.
Both were arrested in a sudden operation by the Karan Nagar police today, and have confessed to their counterfeit activities.
Identified as Parvez Ahmad Sheikh of Bemina and Rabia of Barzulla, the duo was caught red-handed extracting money from patients after the police sealed off the hospital and began a hunt for the fake doctors.
Clad in white aprons with very medical-looking stethoscopes dangling around their necks, the twosome would pursue unsuspecting patients with their assurance and sweet talk, and make them part with their money.
Though it is possible to pass muster in the hospital bustling with white-coated and stethoscope-toting figures for some time, it is not clear how the duo avoided rousing suspicion for so long in the busy premises where doctors are a close-knit community.
When contacted, the Karan Nagar police confirmed arresting only one person, saying that a case had been registered and further investigations started.
(Kashmir Observer)
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
A Pillar of Civil Society
Nazir says that a good and conscientious journalist has no borders
(Dr. Syed Nazir Gilani, 59, is a jurist. He was born in Naranthal (Jalshree) village near Baramulla and was a student at the Government Degree College in Baramulla. Subsequently, he studied English Literature and Politics at the University of Kashmir, Law at the Sindh Muslim Law College in the Karachi-Pakistan, Islamic Law at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), International Law at the Queen Mary University London, Victimology at Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik - former Yugoslavia, Peace Keeping/Humanitarian Operations & Election Monitoring from Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento S. Anna - Pisa Italy, and has a Ph.D. in the Jurisprudence of UN Resolutions and Kashmir Case. He successfully argued a constitutional writ petition in the High Court of Azad Kashmir from December 1992 to April 1999 on the question of self determination and duties of AJK Government. As a lead human rights advocate he has faced a sentence of 5 years imprisonment and 15 lashes and a death sentence during the Martial Law of General Zia in Pakistan. Dr. Gilani has introduced awareness around the title of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to a Rights Movement since 1877 and the respective sovereign claims of India and Pakistan since 1948.)
Blind Folded Wisdom
A free press is important to engineer a social change and disturb the hard protected taboos. Press, like any other discipline in public life, has to be able to look into tomorrow and charter the nation into a prosperous and fairer tomorrow. And there are many tomorrows.
Press has to act as a lead catalyst to cause a social engineering. Recent example is the media of Pakistan which decided to remain on the side of its people, in their just struggle for supremacy of constitution, rule of law and a sovereign parliament. The new generation of media persons and writers changed the semblance of Pakistan and earned it respect of all other communities around the world for the first time since 1947.
Press owes its freedom and reach to people like late Babu Raheem of Glasgow, Great Britain, who used to be labelled as Indian agent, just for his innocent practice of annually subscribing to the Urdu Daily Sach published from Jammu. In fact Master Roshan Lal, the editor of Daily Sach was a distinguished son of the State and had suffered a forced migration from Mir Pur, Azad Kashmir. The two had been childhood friends as well. The Hindu Mir Puris in Jammu have continued to conserve their identity as a special group and continue to ascribe their attachment with Mirpur and Pahari language.
There are 56 Dailies, 57 Weeklies, 3 Monthlies and 11 News Agencies in the Valley alone. Jammu has its own strong contingent of Urdu and English press. Majority of this service is available on the internet. Babu Raheem would be turning in his grave in utter disbelief to find that the Newspaper that he paid for annually and many others are now available free on the internet. Technology has defeated the enemies of good understanding and Babu Raheem has won, though posthumously.
I have a journalist seated in the deep recesses of my heart. He was identified by my teacher Mr. Ganjoo at Higher Secondary School, Baramulla, way back in 1960s. He was true in his prophesy and I edited the school magazine ‘Uqab’, College magazine ‘The Varmul’, University magazine, S M Law College Magazine in Karachi, Pakistan ‘The Collegiate’, first monthly of Ministry of Information, Azad Kashmir ‘The Jaiza’, leading daily of Pakistan ‘Nawa-i-Waqt’ and a few other titles.
To be a good journalist and a fair journalist has its price. I paid it in the manner of facing a charge of preaching revolt against the military regime of General Zia. The regime booked me under Martial Law Regulation 13 prescribing 5 years imprisonment and 15 lashes and incremented it with a death sentence under Martial Law Regulation 53. Zia regime was angered by my article on the last meeting of Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in Rawalpindi jail before he was hanged. The article was published in weekly ‘Alfatah’, Karachi.
I defended the rightful place of Kashmiri language in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. Editor Weekly Kasheer Rawalpindi, late Khawaja Samad Wani, a thorough gentleman of Kashmiri origin tendered an apology for publishing my article. The three people, who did not apologise to the Government of Punjab, were the editor of ‘Alfatah’ Karachi, the publisher and myself. M/S S T Printers in Rawalpindi chose to pay a heavy fine instead for a sin which they had committed on behalf of a Kashmiri writer. Irshad Rao editor weekly Alfatah, who later became advisor to Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto closed ranks with me and remained on the side of the freedom of expression.
It has discouraged me as an experience during my visits to Valley since 1996 and by a mail received from JKCHR office in Srinagar today to find that a section of Valley press has decided to remain blind folded and offer itself for channeling the mischief of State, non State actors and other vested interests. “The Day After” claiming to be an international illustrated news magazine, has quoted a news item from two Srinagar based newspapers, Daily Srinagar News and Srinagar Mail attributing to me as a speech made at the 61st Session of UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva in April 2005. The style, diction and the wisdom carried in the text is alien to my style and person. In fact there are a few words which have never found any space in my written or spoken work.
It is, however, true that I addressed under agenda items 5 and 9 the sixty-first-session of UN Commission on Human Rights, 14 March-22 April 2005. India, Pakistan and others who remain in attendance at the UN Sessions are fully familiar with the substantive merits and the quality of the phrase used in my written statements and oral presentations. It has a notoriety of arrogant secrecy until it is delivered.
Daily Srinagar News and Srinagar Mail may have been made to err in ignorance but a similarity of fabrication in three titles can’t be a simple error. One thing remains for sure that none of these newspapers has an accredited correspondent at the UN in Geneva. JKCHR too has never released any press advice to any one of these three news papers. I would not at this point argue that it is a sponsored mischief but would like to educate my fellow Kashmiris in-charge of the two titles and responsible for the first offering for doing a fake story and attributing to me that as a practice 25 copies of each speech are made available to the UN Secretariat for distribution among the Commission Members (now the Human Rights Council) and the interpreters before the delivery. And after the delivery other Government, Inter Governmental and NGO delegates also approach for the copies. Copies are available with the UN and UN would have done a press release about the two speeches.
We have a new generation of very able journalists in Kashmir. Post 1990 many others have mushroomed as wolves in lambs clothing. The latter are a cancer for any civil society and to encourage this crop of daily wagers is a crime against ‘good conscience’. It is important that rather than being dragged to face criminal liability for their misdemeanour they need to delve deep into the recesses of their good conscience and apportion a decent and noble role for themselves. It does not matter who sponsors who and which title. However what matters most is the substantive merit of the editorial content and the strength of a column. As long as it is a fair comment and a well researched piece, it remains in its noble spirit to enhance the common constituency of freedom of expression. We live in the year 2009 and it entails due accountability and transparency. Let our intellectual class resist to be a part of Blind Folded Wisdom. It is never too late to revise ones approach and resolve to make a difference in the best interests of our people.
A good and conscientious Kashmiri journalist has no borders. He belongs to all geographies and all nationalities. He is noble as long as he discharges his duty to fairness. He has the capacity and reach to connect Kashmiri nobility with rest of the world.
(Dr. Syed Nazir Gilani, 59, is a jurist. He was born in Naranthal (Jalshree) village near Baramulla and was a student at the Government Degree College in Baramulla. Subsequently, he studied English Literature and Politics at the University of Kashmir, Law at the Sindh Muslim Law College in the Karachi-Pakistan, Islamic Law at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), International Law at the Queen Mary University London, Victimology at Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik - former Yugoslavia, Peace Keeping/Humanitarian Operations & Election Monitoring from Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento S. Anna - Pisa Italy, and has a Ph.D. in the Jurisprudence of UN Resolutions and Kashmir Case. He successfully argued a constitutional writ petition in the High Court of Azad Kashmir from December 1992 to April 1999 on the question of self determination and duties of AJK Government. As a lead human rights advocate he has faced a sentence of 5 years imprisonment and 15 lashes and a death sentence during the Martial Law of General Zia in Pakistan. Dr. Gilani has introduced awareness around the title of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to a Rights Movement since 1877 and the respective sovereign claims of India and Pakistan since 1948.)
Blind Folded Wisdom
A free press is important to engineer a social change and disturb the hard protected taboos. Press, like any other discipline in public life, has to be able to look into tomorrow and charter the nation into a prosperous and fairer tomorrow. And there are many tomorrows.
Press has to act as a lead catalyst to cause a social engineering. Recent example is the media of Pakistan which decided to remain on the side of its people, in their just struggle for supremacy of constitution, rule of law and a sovereign parliament. The new generation of media persons and writers changed the semblance of Pakistan and earned it respect of all other communities around the world for the first time since 1947.
Press owes its freedom and reach to people like late Babu Raheem of Glasgow, Great Britain, who used to be labelled as Indian agent, just for his innocent practice of annually subscribing to the Urdu Daily Sach published from Jammu. In fact Master Roshan Lal, the editor of Daily Sach was a distinguished son of the State and had suffered a forced migration from Mir Pur, Azad Kashmir. The two had been childhood friends as well. The Hindu Mir Puris in Jammu have continued to conserve their identity as a special group and continue to ascribe their attachment with Mirpur and Pahari language.
There are 56 Dailies, 57 Weeklies, 3 Monthlies and 11 News Agencies in the Valley alone. Jammu has its own strong contingent of Urdu and English press. Majority of this service is available on the internet. Babu Raheem would be turning in his grave in utter disbelief to find that the Newspaper that he paid for annually and many others are now available free on the internet. Technology has defeated the enemies of good understanding and Babu Raheem has won, though posthumously.
I have a journalist seated in the deep recesses of my heart. He was identified by my teacher Mr. Ganjoo at Higher Secondary School, Baramulla, way back in 1960s. He was true in his prophesy and I edited the school magazine ‘Uqab’, College magazine ‘The Varmul’, University magazine, S M Law College Magazine in Karachi, Pakistan ‘The Collegiate’, first monthly of Ministry of Information, Azad Kashmir ‘The Jaiza’, leading daily of Pakistan ‘Nawa-i-Waqt’ and a few other titles.
To be a good journalist and a fair journalist has its price. I paid it in the manner of facing a charge of preaching revolt against the military regime of General Zia. The regime booked me under Martial Law Regulation 13 prescribing 5 years imprisonment and 15 lashes and incremented it with a death sentence under Martial Law Regulation 53. Zia regime was angered by my article on the last meeting of Nusrat Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in Rawalpindi jail before he was hanged. The article was published in weekly ‘Alfatah’, Karachi.
I defended the rightful place of Kashmiri language in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. Editor Weekly Kasheer Rawalpindi, late Khawaja Samad Wani, a thorough gentleman of Kashmiri origin tendered an apology for publishing my article. The three people, who did not apologise to the Government of Punjab, were the editor of ‘Alfatah’ Karachi, the publisher and myself. M/S S T Printers in Rawalpindi chose to pay a heavy fine instead for a sin which they had committed on behalf of a Kashmiri writer. Irshad Rao editor weekly Alfatah, who later became advisor to Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto closed ranks with me and remained on the side of the freedom of expression.
It has discouraged me as an experience during my visits to Valley since 1996 and by a mail received from JKCHR office in Srinagar today to find that a section of Valley press has decided to remain blind folded and offer itself for channeling the mischief of State, non State actors and other vested interests. “The Day After” claiming to be an international illustrated news magazine, has quoted a news item from two Srinagar based newspapers, Daily Srinagar News and Srinagar Mail attributing to me as a speech made at the 61st Session of UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva in April 2005. The style, diction and the wisdom carried in the text is alien to my style and person. In fact there are a few words which have never found any space in my written or spoken work.
It is, however, true that I addressed under agenda items 5 and 9 the sixty-first-session of UN Commission on Human Rights, 14 March-22 April 2005. India, Pakistan and others who remain in attendance at the UN Sessions are fully familiar with the substantive merits and the quality of the phrase used in my written statements and oral presentations. It has a notoriety of arrogant secrecy until it is delivered.
Daily Srinagar News and Srinagar Mail may have been made to err in ignorance but a similarity of fabrication in three titles can’t be a simple error. One thing remains for sure that none of these newspapers has an accredited correspondent at the UN in Geneva. JKCHR too has never released any press advice to any one of these three news papers. I would not at this point argue that it is a sponsored mischief but would like to educate my fellow Kashmiris in-charge of the two titles and responsible for the first offering for doing a fake story and attributing to me that as a practice 25 copies of each speech are made available to the UN Secretariat for distribution among the Commission Members (now the Human Rights Council) and the interpreters before the delivery. And after the delivery other Government, Inter Governmental and NGO delegates also approach for the copies. Copies are available with the UN and UN would have done a press release about the two speeches.
We have a new generation of very able journalists in Kashmir. Post 1990 many others have mushroomed as wolves in lambs clothing. The latter are a cancer for any civil society and to encourage this crop of daily wagers is a crime against ‘good conscience’. It is important that rather than being dragged to face criminal liability for their misdemeanour they need to delve deep into the recesses of their good conscience and apportion a decent and noble role for themselves. It does not matter who sponsors who and which title. However what matters most is the substantive merit of the editorial content and the strength of a column. As long as it is a fair comment and a well researched piece, it remains in its noble spirit to enhance the common constituency of freedom of expression. We live in the year 2009 and it entails due accountability and transparency. Let our intellectual class resist to be a part of Blind Folded Wisdom. It is never too late to revise ones approach and resolve to make a difference in the best interests of our people.
A good and conscientious Kashmiri journalist has no borders. He belongs to all geographies and all nationalities. He is noble as long as he discharges his duty to fairness. He has the capacity and reach to connect Kashmiri nobility with rest of the world.
Creating World Class Products for Export Market
Mohi-u-Din believes the success in exports of crewel embroidery and chain stitch rugs over traditional carpets and shawls is due to innovation in manufacturing
(Mr. Ghulam Mohi-u-Din Khan, is a Crewel and Chain Stitch Manufacturer/Exporter. He is a member of Excutive Committee, Chamber of Commerce & Industries, Kashmir - CCIK.)
Kashmir Handicrafts: Declining Markets
Handicrafts of Kashmir that came into existence six centuries back, during the time of Hazrat Amir-e-Kabir (RA) are famous in the whole world. Different crafts of our state J&K developed big market, domestic and international. Among all crafts Carpet Industry alone has a value, in terms of export and domestic market, of about 900 crores annually. Other crafts like shawls, crewel embroidery, chain stitch rugs, paper machie, and wood carving have a value of about 800 crore.
Sad to note that Carpet industry has already declined in export market. These are many reasons for this, particularly in manufacturing of carpets. The manufacturer exporters have failed to develop new designs and color schemes. We have been seeing since decades only traditional designs, copied mostly from Persia. Further, the manufacturers have not encouraged the artisans, with the result the production of carpets has declined to a large extent in Kashmir valley. The grass roots level workers have lost the interest in manufacturing of carpets. Actually, there should have been regular increase in the wages, and quality check should have been put in action also. Just two decades before it was observed that almost every lane in Srinagar had a carpet loom, and same was the case in villages and remote areas. There is a big question mark that why we don’t have carpet looms in Srinagar and in villages. The people who were engaged in this trade, directly or indirectly, have left this job, main reason being the worker does not get sufficient wages. This has resulted in loss of interest and consequently the trend of carpet manufacturing has declined to a large extent. Otherwise a carpet was, and is, considered to be a Royal Product. We see its use in every part of the world. It is used in palatial houses, in conference and meeting halls, in hotels, in world famous mosques; more ever carpet has a domestic use also. When a dignitary visits from one country to another he is first given a carpet reception. Above all the use of carpet is a routine matter in the day to day life.
The carpet exporters and manufacturers are very much worried about its decline regardless of the current recession in the whole world, which can end sooner or later. Therefore we have to examine its root causes. If we want the carpet business flourish, both internationally and domestically, then we have to provide every facility to the artisans in terms of purchase of latest looms, raw materials and more particularly we have to pay them sufficient wages, that too in time, so that a worker gets encouraged and more and more people get involved again in its manufacturing process. The exporters and manufactures have a duty to develop new designs and new color schemes so as to compete with the world market, otherwise Persia, China, Pakistan, Turkey and other countries have gone far ahead in its export market. We have to blame ourselves first. We have to work collectively for uplift of this trade and go beyond paper work; practical steps must be taken.
There are a few carpet manufacturer exporters who exist here since decades. They have put forth their efforts and are always engaged with its uplift in terms of quality and quantity, both Silk and Wool. They develop new designs and color schemes time to time and have kept their market alive. To keep the carpet industry alive every manufacturer and exporter has to set up a new trend and change the modalities. The J&K government also has to come forward to help the manufacturers and exporters, particularly during the times of global recession.
Now if we talk about Shawl industry of Kashmir, this too is witnessing bad times. The big factor in this is the introduction of machine made shawls from Amritsar, Punjab, which has developed a big market though they do not contain 100% wool and last not much longer. The real Kashmiri shawls of Pashmina wool, which comes from Ladakh region of J&K State, is produced only in Kashmir, with hand-made embroideries. The raw pashmina is spun first by middle aged and elderly women on charka, woven by men on handlooms only afterwards. The other Kashmiri shawls made with Raffal Yarn in different counts of wool are very soft and again embroidery done on each item is by hand. To differentiate the Kashmiri shawl from Amritsar shawl there should be quality control and more particularly the manufacturers and traders must insert labels with some trade mark on each product mentioning machine -made or hand-made so that customers don’t get cheated; otherwise the famous Kashmiri Pashmina and Raffal shawls will fast decline in its export market, and also in domestic market. To uplift this trade the J&K Handicrafts Department has to play a huge role in this.
The case of Crewel Embroidery and Chain Stitch Rugs is different. There has been an uptrend in its export market since last two decades. The manufacturers and exporters have brought innovation in these products. It was mostly produced on Handloom Dasuti Cloth with single ply wool only, that too on natural backgrounds. Now, we have developed these products on different base materials like cotton duck fabric normally soft, velvet, linen, fine cotton jute, silk organza, organdhee, tissue, net, glazed, cotton, etcetera. More over the woolen yarn, mostly used in these are 2ply soft and strong wool of high quality. Here, I may mention that like shawls and carpets the stock goods are not possible in these products, the orders depend absolutely on buyer’s choice. More particularly the workers engaged with these products are getting sufficient wages and which get increased almost every year whenever the situation demands. The interest of the workers has developed to a large extent in this activity, though its 90% products are made in South Kashmir only. Here credit goes to our association where we have many manufacturer exporter members, some dealing in this trade since almost six decades.
Same is the case of chain stitch rugs. These products have definitely established the market not only in USA, but Europe, Gulf Countries, South America and even domestic. Everybody knows that recession is a global phenomenon. No doubt crewel and chain stitch rugs have also very slow trend but again it is a matter of time. When business meltdown will be over things will change for better.
Now, it is the duty of the manufacturers and exporters who are involved in different hand-made crafts of Kashmir; they must set up an organization of their own so that they can conduct regular meetings to discuss the difficulties faced by their trade, and only they know better how to keep this trade alive. If exporters care only for export figures, regardless what difficulties are faced by the worker at grass roots level things are not going to change. Government and private agencies have to come forward and manufacturers, exporters, artisans have to put due efforts to better the trends.
(Mr. Ghulam Mohi-u-Din Khan, is a Crewel and Chain Stitch Manufacturer/Exporter. He is a member of Excutive Committee, Chamber of Commerce & Industries, Kashmir - CCIK.)
Kashmir Handicrafts: Declining Markets
Handicrafts of Kashmir that came into existence six centuries back, during the time of Hazrat Amir-e-Kabir (RA) are famous in the whole world. Different crafts of our state J&K developed big market, domestic and international. Among all crafts Carpet Industry alone has a value, in terms of export and domestic market, of about 900 crores annually. Other crafts like shawls, crewel embroidery, chain stitch rugs, paper machie, and wood carving have a value of about 800 crore.
Sad to note that Carpet industry has already declined in export market. These are many reasons for this, particularly in manufacturing of carpets. The manufacturer exporters have failed to develop new designs and color schemes. We have been seeing since decades only traditional designs, copied mostly from Persia. Further, the manufacturers have not encouraged the artisans, with the result the production of carpets has declined to a large extent in Kashmir valley. The grass roots level workers have lost the interest in manufacturing of carpets. Actually, there should have been regular increase in the wages, and quality check should have been put in action also. Just two decades before it was observed that almost every lane in Srinagar had a carpet loom, and same was the case in villages and remote areas. There is a big question mark that why we don’t have carpet looms in Srinagar and in villages. The people who were engaged in this trade, directly or indirectly, have left this job, main reason being the worker does not get sufficient wages. This has resulted in loss of interest and consequently the trend of carpet manufacturing has declined to a large extent. Otherwise a carpet was, and is, considered to be a Royal Product. We see its use in every part of the world. It is used in palatial houses, in conference and meeting halls, in hotels, in world famous mosques; more ever carpet has a domestic use also. When a dignitary visits from one country to another he is first given a carpet reception. Above all the use of carpet is a routine matter in the day to day life.
The carpet exporters and manufacturers are very much worried about its decline regardless of the current recession in the whole world, which can end sooner or later. Therefore we have to examine its root causes. If we want the carpet business flourish, both internationally and domestically, then we have to provide every facility to the artisans in terms of purchase of latest looms, raw materials and more particularly we have to pay them sufficient wages, that too in time, so that a worker gets encouraged and more and more people get involved again in its manufacturing process. The exporters and manufactures have a duty to develop new designs and new color schemes so as to compete with the world market, otherwise Persia, China, Pakistan, Turkey and other countries have gone far ahead in its export market. We have to blame ourselves first. We have to work collectively for uplift of this trade and go beyond paper work; practical steps must be taken.
There are a few carpet manufacturer exporters who exist here since decades. They have put forth their efforts and are always engaged with its uplift in terms of quality and quantity, both Silk and Wool. They develop new designs and color schemes time to time and have kept their market alive. To keep the carpet industry alive every manufacturer and exporter has to set up a new trend and change the modalities. The J&K government also has to come forward to help the manufacturers and exporters, particularly during the times of global recession.
Now if we talk about Shawl industry of Kashmir, this too is witnessing bad times. The big factor in this is the introduction of machine made shawls from Amritsar, Punjab, which has developed a big market though they do not contain 100% wool and last not much longer. The real Kashmiri shawls of Pashmina wool, which comes from Ladakh region of J&K State, is produced only in Kashmir, with hand-made embroideries. The raw pashmina is spun first by middle aged and elderly women on charka, woven by men on handlooms only afterwards. The other Kashmiri shawls made with Raffal Yarn in different counts of wool are very soft and again embroidery done on each item is by hand. To differentiate the Kashmiri shawl from Amritsar shawl there should be quality control and more particularly the manufacturers and traders must insert labels with some trade mark on each product mentioning machine -made or hand-made so that customers don’t get cheated; otherwise the famous Kashmiri Pashmina and Raffal shawls will fast decline in its export market, and also in domestic market. To uplift this trade the J&K Handicrafts Department has to play a huge role in this.
The case of Crewel Embroidery and Chain Stitch Rugs is different. There has been an uptrend in its export market since last two decades. The manufacturers and exporters have brought innovation in these products. It was mostly produced on Handloom Dasuti Cloth with single ply wool only, that too on natural backgrounds. Now, we have developed these products on different base materials like cotton duck fabric normally soft, velvet, linen, fine cotton jute, silk organza, organdhee, tissue, net, glazed, cotton, etcetera. More over the woolen yarn, mostly used in these are 2ply soft and strong wool of high quality. Here, I may mention that like shawls and carpets the stock goods are not possible in these products, the orders depend absolutely on buyer’s choice. More particularly the workers engaged with these products are getting sufficient wages and which get increased almost every year whenever the situation demands. The interest of the workers has developed to a large extent in this activity, though its 90% products are made in South Kashmir only. Here credit goes to our association where we have many manufacturer exporter members, some dealing in this trade since almost six decades.
Same is the case of chain stitch rugs. These products have definitely established the market not only in USA, but Europe, Gulf Countries, South America and even domestic. Everybody knows that recession is a global phenomenon. No doubt crewel and chain stitch rugs have also very slow trend but again it is a matter of time. When business meltdown will be over things will change for better.
Now, it is the duty of the manufacturers and exporters who are involved in different hand-made crafts of Kashmir; they must set up an organization of their own so that they can conduct regular meetings to discuss the difficulties faced by their trade, and only they know better how to keep this trade alive. If exporters care only for export figures, regardless what difficulties are faced by the worker at grass roots level things are not going to change. Government and private agencies have to come forward and manufacturers, exporters, artisans have to put due efforts to better the trends.
Public Health is a Challenge in Kashmir
Water borne diseases kill 200 kids every year
New Kashmir Challenge
Mehboob Jeelani (Rising Kashmir)
Srinagar: After 20 years of violence, Kashmir has identified its new enemy – the water borne diseases that are alarmingly proving to be fatal, particularly among the children.
Talking to Rising Kashmir, Head of Government Medical College’s (GMC) Preventive Medicine department, Dr Muneer Masoodi said: “Water borne diseases are the only fatal diseases in the Valley. We often get cases of jaundice and gastroenteritis due to consumption of unsafe drinking water.”
Masoodi said waterborne diseases could only be controlled by taking precautionary measures and supplying safe drinking water.
“We can only treat these diseases. The best way to be on the safer side is to consume water after boiling it for 15 to 20 minutes,” he said. “Hepatitis-A is one of the dangerous diseases transmitted through contaminated drinking water. The symptoms are only acute (no chronic stage to the virus) and include fatigue, fever, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, weight loss, itching, jaundice and depression. “These diseases cannot be controlled until people take precautionary measures and Public Health Engineering department provides safe drinking water.”
A doctor of GMC’s SPM department, wishing not to be named, said that in Kashmir province two to four people die due to waterborne diseases a week. This takes the annual death toll due to water borne diseases to over 200.
“Children are the worst hit as their immune system finds it difficult to overcome this disease. Contaminated drinking water used in the preparation of food also becomes source of food-borne disease through consumption of pathogenic microorganisms,” he said. “The consumption of non-treated drinking water initially causes abdominal discomfort, fatigue, weight loss, diarrhea, bloating, and fever.”
According to World Health Organization, diarrhea disease accounts for an estimated 4.1 per cent of the total DAILY global burden of disease and is responsible for the deaths of 1.8 million people every year.
It was estimated that 88 per cent of that burden is attributable to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene and is mostly intense among children in developing countries.
New Kashmir Challenge
Mehboob Jeelani (Rising Kashmir)
Srinagar: After 20 years of violence, Kashmir has identified its new enemy – the water borne diseases that are alarmingly proving to be fatal, particularly among the children.
Talking to Rising Kashmir, Head of Government Medical College’s (GMC) Preventive Medicine department, Dr Muneer Masoodi said: “Water borne diseases are the only fatal diseases in the Valley. We often get cases of jaundice and gastroenteritis due to consumption of unsafe drinking water.”
Masoodi said waterborne diseases could only be controlled by taking precautionary measures and supplying safe drinking water.
“We can only treat these diseases. The best way to be on the safer side is to consume water after boiling it for 15 to 20 minutes,” he said. “Hepatitis-A is one of the dangerous diseases transmitted through contaminated drinking water. The symptoms are only acute (no chronic stage to the virus) and include fatigue, fever, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, weight loss, itching, jaundice and depression. “These diseases cannot be controlled until people take precautionary measures and Public Health Engineering department provides safe drinking water.”
A doctor of GMC’s SPM department, wishing not to be named, said that in Kashmir province two to four people die due to waterborne diseases a week. This takes the annual death toll due to water borne diseases to over 200.
“Children are the worst hit as their immune system finds it difficult to overcome this disease. Contaminated drinking water used in the preparation of food also becomes source of food-borne disease through consumption of pathogenic microorganisms,” he said. “The consumption of non-treated drinking water initially causes abdominal discomfort, fatigue, weight loss, diarrhea, bloating, and fever.”
According to World Health Organization, diarrhea disease accounts for an estimated 4.1 per cent of the total DAILY global burden of disease and is responsible for the deaths of 1.8 million people every year.
It was estimated that 88 per cent of that burden is attributable to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene and is mostly intense among children in developing countries.
Monday, April 6, 2009
The K-Word: Is it Kashmir or Kentucky?
Ashraf wonders why Separatists keep writing letters to American Presidents, especially when America could not care less. But wait, there is more .... Kashmir actually belongs to America!
(Mr. Mohammad Ashraf, 66, was born and raised in Srinagar. He attended the S.P. High School and the S.P College before joining the Regional Engineering College at Naseem Bagh in Civil Engineering. However, he changed his career to adventure sports like mountaineering and skiing, completing his training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling and Gulmarg. He also completed a diploma in French language from the Alliance Française in New Delhi. He joined the J&K Tourism Department in 1973, rose to become its Director-General in 1996, and retired in 2003 after 30 years of service. He has been associated with the Adventure Sports at the national level and was recently re-elected as the Vice-President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, the apex body of adventure sports in India, for two years. To commend his efforts in introducing rescue measures in Kashmir Mountains, he was awarded “Merite-Alpin” by Swiss in a special function in Les Diablerets in 1993. He continues to be a member of the Governing Council of IMF and is also the President of Jammu & Kashmir Mountaineering & Hiking Club.)
Waiting for America!
For sometime past there have been many write ups that the United States of America led by its new dynamic President Obama may intervene to find the solution to the most intractable problem of Kashmir. In fact, this feeling had resulted from his pre-election discourses in which he had emphatically stated that for peace in Afghanistan it was essential to secure Pakistan’s eastern border and the ideal way to do that was to sort out the dispute on Kashmir. According to him the worst distraction for the Pakistan army preventing them in concentrating on the Afghan border was the emotional attachment of Pakistanis to Kashmir. If the reason for Jihad in Kashmir was eliminated, Pakistanis could be asked to devout full attention to the war on terror being waged in Afghanistan. This had given hope to many that immediately after taking over, President Obama will concentrate his energies in South Asia on solving this most vexed problem, probably among the last ones pending for solution for more than half a century. For some strange inexplicable reasons Kashmiris seem to have more hope on America than on their own selves in getting emancipated. They have failed to understand the American game plan. The real American face was shown very brazenly by their last President George Bush. In a way he was more practical and outright and left no one in doubt. According to him people all over the world were either with America or against America. There was no third option! This represents the true inner feeling of the American ruling elite. They see America to be the centre of the world. Everything else is subservient to this “reality”!
It is interesting to analyse the American attitude in regard to Kashmir right from the creation of this problem. Initially they were fond of supporting an Independent Kashmir which would be a bulwark against the expansion of the erstwhile Soviet Union. In fact, one of the main charges against late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was his hobnobbing with Adlai Stevenson, the then American Ambassador, for the creation of an Independent Kashmir. During the entire debate in the UN Security Council, Americans supported Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. In fact, there was a direct confrontation between America and USSR on the subject in all debates which took place in the UN. Americans supported their ally Pakistan and the USSR supported India. This continued during the entire period of the Cold War. No one knew that behind the scenes the Americans and the British had already decided to keep the pot of Kashmir boiling in order to keep their hold on the sub-continent. This was revealed a couple of years back through the declassification of some secret documents containing the minutes of meetings held between George Marshal and Bevin in Paris in late forties! However, as long as the erstwhile Soviet Union was there, Americans took an outright stand in favour of Kashmiris.
Once the Soviet Union disintegrated, their stance had an immediate change. They did not need any bases to lay a siege round the Soviet Union. Globalisation of the world economy forced them to reorient their aims and objectives. The priority now was the possession of control over the world energy sources and monopoly on the world market. Economy was the buzz word. Liberty, equality, fraternity, the three attributes of the French Revolution which also formed the basis of the American Republic lost their meaning for them. The control of oil wells, the access, and manipulation of markets in different parts of the world became the priority number one. They did not mind, in spite of claiming to be leaders of the democratic free world, supporting the most autocratic, ruthless, and dictatorial regimes and Sheikhdoms in the Middle East to keep their hold on the Arab oil. On one hand they supported these undemocratic Kingdoms and on the other hand they put the dagger of Israel in the heart of the Arab world. During the Bush era they went totally overboard and declared Islam to be a religion of terror and all Muslims potential terrorists. Americans tried their best to ensure that the entire western world turns against Muslims. Kashmir which was once dear to their heart as a nation struggling for its freedom became a hub of “Jihadi Terrorism”. They made a complete somersault. From supporting Kashmiris’ right to self-determination they came to support Indian hold on Kashmir. There are two reasons for this change. Firstly, Kashmir is now construed to be a problem of Muslims. If Kashmiris were Christians or Jews, things would be quite different. The living example is East Timor. Secondly, India is a massive market for Americans which they cannot afford to neglect especially with the fast growing economy of China.
It is difficult to understand as to why Kashmiris look towards America for justice and fair play in the face of these stark truths? Unfortunately, the continued oppression and development of a totally selfish outlook have made Kashmiris insensitive not only to the finer qualities of self-respect and dignity but have also made them lose faith in their own selves. There is total and absolute lack of self-confidence. It was really funny to watch some Kashmiri leaders pleading with President Obama through letters written to him and through their statements in the media, for intervening in the Kashmir dispute. There is only one conclusion that the leaders of the movement do not have faith in their own beliefs and convictions. If they had the convictions and were confident of the genuineness of their cause, they would not be pleading for foreign intervention. Highlighting human rights violations and demanding intervention of Global Watch Dogs of these rights for halting these excesses is totally different from pleading with the original creators of the conflict for its solution. It may be better to address the civil society in India itself by making them aware of the ground situation. It has been generally observed that the majority of people in India are absolutely unaware of the real ground situation in Kashmir. There is a general feeling resulting from massive propaganda that Kashmiris want to remain with India of their own free will. The recent massive participation of the people in the assembly elections is presented world wide as well as within India as a proof of this “truth”. Most people are made to believe that it is only a few hundred cross-border terrorists coming from Pakistan who are creating the problem. Not many people in other parts of India know that tens of thousands of Kashmiri youth, almost a complete generation has been killed. Not many know that thousands have disappeared without a trace and not many know that thousands are in different Indian prisons without any trial for last 18 years or so! Not many know that almost every inch of the civilian population is under the control of security forces having impunity for killing any one at the their sweet will on the mere suspicion of being a potential militant. All the international pressure and foreign intervention will not be as effective as the pressure of the public opinion and the civil society within India. The Algerian freedom struggle received a real boost when the famous French writer Simone de Beauvoir wrote a book about the torturing of the young Algerian girl Djamila Bopacha by the French soldiers. Kashmir’s real tragedy is the presence of dozens of parties led by dozens of leaders going in dozens of directions!
The first requirement for all these groups and their leaders is to put their act together. Unless they unite and have a common goal, Kashmiris would continue to wander in the desert. The least they could do is to educate Indian masses about the plight of Kashmiris which is not such a tall order!
There is a silver lining to the Kashmiris’ American dream. Dan Brown, the author of the controversial book about Jesus and Mary Magdalene, “The Da Vinci Code” is coming out with a book on Kashmir titled, “The Secret of the K-Word”. The author claims to have discovered the original document over which the Instrument of Accession, signed by Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh and preserved in the National Archives, New Delhi, was later superimposed. The secret document reveals that Hari Singh, equally apprehensive of joining either India or Pakistan, covertly ceded Kashmir to the US. According to Brown, when the map of Kashmir is reversed it becomes, uncannily, congruent with the hilly state of Kentucky in the southern US. Let us hope Kashmiris have not been waiting for America without a reason!
(Mr. Mohammad Ashraf, 66, was born and raised in Srinagar. He attended the S.P. High School and the S.P College before joining the Regional Engineering College at Naseem Bagh in Civil Engineering. However, he changed his career to adventure sports like mountaineering and skiing, completing his training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling and Gulmarg. He also completed a diploma in French language from the Alliance Française in New Delhi. He joined the J&K Tourism Department in 1973, rose to become its Director-General in 1996, and retired in 2003 after 30 years of service. He has been associated with the Adventure Sports at the national level and was recently re-elected as the Vice-President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, the apex body of adventure sports in India, for two years. To commend his efforts in introducing rescue measures in Kashmir Mountains, he was awarded “Merite-Alpin” by Swiss in a special function in Les Diablerets in 1993. He continues to be a member of the Governing Council of IMF and is also the President of Jammu & Kashmir Mountaineering & Hiking Club.)
Waiting for America!
For sometime past there have been many write ups that the United States of America led by its new dynamic President Obama may intervene to find the solution to the most intractable problem of Kashmir. In fact, this feeling had resulted from his pre-election discourses in which he had emphatically stated that for peace in Afghanistan it was essential to secure Pakistan’s eastern border and the ideal way to do that was to sort out the dispute on Kashmir. According to him the worst distraction for the Pakistan army preventing them in concentrating on the Afghan border was the emotional attachment of Pakistanis to Kashmir. If the reason for Jihad in Kashmir was eliminated, Pakistanis could be asked to devout full attention to the war on terror being waged in Afghanistan. This had given hope to many that immediately after taking over, President Obama will concentrate his energies in South Asia on solving this most vexed problem, probably among the last ones pending for solution for more than half a century. For some strange inexplicable reasons Kashmiris seem to have more hope on America than on their own selves in getting emancipated. They have failed to understand the American game plan. The real American face was shown very brazenly by their last President George Bush. In a way he was more practical and outright and left no one in doubt. According to him people all over the world were either with America or against America. There was no third option! This represents the true inner feeling of the American ruling elite. They see America to be the centre of the world. Everything else is subservient to this “reality”!
It is interesting to analyse the American attitude in regard to Kashmir right from the creation of this problem. Initially they were fond of supporting an Independent Kashmir which would be a bulwark against the expansion of the erstwhile Soviet Union. In fact, one of the main charges against late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was his hobnobbing with Adlai Stevenson, the then American Ambassador, for the creation of an Independent Kashmir. During the entire debate in the UN Security Council, Americans supported Kashmiris’ right to self-determination. In fact, there was a direct confrontation between America and USSR on the subject in all debates which took place in the UN. Americans supported their ally Pakistan and the USSR supported India. This continued during the entire period of the Cold War. No one knew that behind the scenes the Americans and the British had already decided to keep the pot of Kashmir boiling in order to keep their hold on the sub-continent. This was revealed a couple of years back through the declassification of some secret documents containing the minutes of meetings held between George Marshal and Bevin in Paris in late forties! However, as long as the erstwhile Soviet Union was there, Americans took an outright stand in favour of Kashmiris.
Once the Soviet Union disintegrated, their stance had an immediate change. They did not need any bases to lay a siege round the Soviet Union. Globalisation of the world economy forced them to reorient their aims and objectives. The priority now was the possession of control over the world energy sources and monopoly on the world market. Economy was the buzz word. Liberty, equality, fraternity, the three attributes of the French Revolution which also formed the basis of the American Republic lost their meaning for them. The control of oil wells, the access, and manipulation of markets in different parts of the world became the priority number one. They did not mind, in spite of claiming to be leaders of the democratic free world, supporting the most autocratic, ruthless, and dictatorial regimes and Sheikhdoms in the Middle East to keep their hold on the Arab oil. On one hand they supported these undemocratic Kingdoms and on the other hand they put the dagger of Israel in the heart of the Arab world. During the Bush era they went totally overboard and declared Islam to be a religion of terror and all Muslims potential terrorists. Americans tried their best to ensure that the entire western world turns against Muslims. Kashmir which was once dear to their heart as a nation struggling for its freedom became a hub of “Jihadi Terrorism”. They made a complete somersault. From supporting Kashmiris’ right to self-determination they came to support Indian hold on Kashmir. There are two reasons for this change. Firstly, Kashmir is now construed to be a problem of Muslims. If Kashmiris were Christians or Jews, things would be quite different. The living example is East Timor. Secondly, India is a massive market for Americans which they cannot afford to neglect especially with the fast growing economy of China.
It is difficult to understand as to why Kashmiris look towards America for justice and fair play in the face of these stark truths? Unfortunately, the continued oppression and development of a totally selfish outlook have made Kashmiris insensitive not only to the finer qualities of self-respect and dignity but have also made them lose faith in their own selves. There is total and absolute lack of self-confidence. It was really funny to watch some Kashmiri leaders pleading with President Obama through letters written to him and through their statements in the media, for intervening in the Kashmir dispute. There is only one conclusion that the leaders of the movement do not have faith in their own beliefs and convictions. If they had the convictions and were confident of the genuineness of their cause, they would not be pleading for foreign intervention. Highlighting human rights violations and demanding intervention of Global Watch Dogs of these rights for halting these excesses is totally different from pleading with the original creators of the conflict for its solution. It may be better to address the civil society in India itself by making them aware of the ground situation. It has been generally observed that the majority of people in India are absolutely unaware of the real ground situation in Kashmir. There is a general feeling resulting from massive propaganda that Kashmiris want to remain with India of their own free will. The recent massive participation of the people in the assembly elections is presented world wide as well as within India as a proof of this “truth”. Most people are made to believe that it is only a few hundred cross-border terrorists coming from Pakistan who are creating the problem. Not many people in other parts of India know that tens of thousands of Kashmiri youth, almost a complete generation has been killed. Not many know that thousands have disappeared without a trace and not many know that thousands are in different Indian prisons without any trial for last 18 years or so! Not many know that almost every inch of the civilian population is under the control of security forces having impunity for killing any one at the their sweet will on the mere suspicion of being a potential militant. All the international pressure and foreign intervention will not be as effective as the pressure of the public opinion and the civil society within India. The Algerian freedom struggle received a real boost when the famous French writer Simone de Beauvoir wrote a book about the torturing of the young Algerian girl Djamila Bopacha by the French soldiers. Kashmir’s real tragedy is the presence of dozens of parties led by dozens of leaders going in dozens of directions!
The first requirement for all these groups and their leaders is to put their act together. Unless they unite and have a common goal, Kashmiris would continue to wander in the desert. The least they could do is to educate Indian masses about the plight of Kashmiris which is not such a tall order!
There is a silver lining to the Kashmiris’ American dream. Dan Brown, the author of the controversial book about Jesus and Mary Magdalene, “The Da Vinci Code” is coming out with a book on Kashmir titled, “The Secret of the K-Word”. The author claims to have discovered the original document over which the Instrument of Accession, signed by Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh and preserved in the National Archives, New Delhi, was later superimposed. The secret document reveals that Hari Singh, equally apprehensive of joining either India or Pakistan, covertly ceded Kashmir to the US. According to Brown, when the map of Kashmir is reversed it becomes, uncannily, congruent with the hilly state of Kentucky in the southern US. Let us hope Kashmiris have not been waiting for America without a reason!
Home of Ancient Civilizations
Iqbal pleads for preserving Kashmir's ancient manuscripts written in Sanskrit and Persian
(Mr. Iqbal Ahmad, 48, was born in Parigam Chek, Kulgam. He is a graduate with Diploma in Numastics, Archaeology and Heritage. He is an archaeologist, writer, and a cultural historian. Mr. Iqbal Ahmad has published 12 reference books on Kashmir archaeology and heritage.)
Home of Sanskrit Learning
Without doubt we should take care of our spoken dialect, Kashmiri, which since centuries has been serving as the medium of our common people although it hardly served as a written language and never as the official language of this land.
As records witness it was Sanskrit and Persian which filled the written and official gaps which were left empty by our mother tongue.
The earliest hand written documents and manuscripts of our classical ages are found in Sanskrit language and the characters adopted are Sharda; although we could not preserve this classical language, we need to take care of those manuscripts and documents which have been written in Sanskrit and Persian languages.
If you visit the old libraries and archive repositories you would definitely come across a number of ancient manuscripts and documents of Sanskrit. Sometimes you would find such manuscripts written in bark leaves and wooden sheets. We cannot decipher these characters. There are only few experts and scholars who can recognize this ancient alphabet and decipher the script. For most others such ancient literatures are beyond their understanding and wisdom.
These ancient records undoubtedly would be most significant, as they pertain to our ancient land and its people. These records have been written in this land and should be genuine documents of our classical literature. Most of such manuscripts are found in various old institutions of Srinagar and Jammu namely the Research Library, Archival repositories of Jammu and Srinagar, SPS Museum, Srinagar Dogra Art Museum, Jammu Centre of Central Asian Studies Museum Srinagar and in the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages. Obviously, even the preservers of this record did not know what they have preserved?
Kashmiris are proud and justly so of the literary glories of their land. For centuries it was the home of the greatest scholars and at least one great Indian religion Shaivism has found some of its most eloquent teachers on the banks of the Vitasta. Some of the greatest Sanskrit poets were born and wrote in the valley and from it has issued in the Sanskrit language; a world famous collection of folklore.
Sanskrit records are the oldest records of Kashmir. But to make matters clear the language did not serve as the language of common people, it was the language of officers of rajas and Maharajas and of the literary classes. Besides, it served as the only written language of this land till the arrival of Persian. If you ask somebody about such collections they would say these are Sharda manuscripts and most of them do not know in which language these have been written.
In fact, most of our earliest manuscripts are written in Sharda alphabet while few in Gilgitian characters, but the language adopted in these records was Sanskrit, so we can call them our Sanskrit records. Kashmir is said to have served as the home of Sanskrit learning; in the words of Grierson, “For upwards of two thousand years Kashmir has been the home of Sanskrit learning and from this small valley have issued masterpieces of history, poetry, romance, fable and philosophy.
In fact whatever records of ancient Kashmir are available they are entirely in Sanskrit. These Sanskrit records are found written on local paper. I have seen many such manuscripts written on brick bark leaves, locally called burz. These entire Sanskrit records are not unidentified and undeciphered. Most of these records have been deciphered earlier and their respective translations are available. One such significant example is of our Kashmir history Rajtarangni which was also written in Sanskrit
But nowadays we have many explanatory translations available of this earliest historic ‘epic’. Who were the people who undertook this mission? The reply is the British missionaries. The first scholars who undertook the translation work of Sanskrit records were European missionaries. Gareison, George Buhler, and Stein were the first line scholars who studied the earliest Kashmir records. Maharaj Ranbir Singh who was very much inspired by the British missionaries founded the first ever Sanskrit Pathshal at Srinagar and employed proficient pandits for teaching the language.
He also set up a translation bureau where Sanskrit texts were translated into Persian and Hindi. The Maharaja was followed by democratic government which established an independent and fully equipped research department where many Sanskrit texts were edited, collated and published. The Research Department of Kashmir which was set up at Lal Mandi in Srinagar did a great work in translation of a number of Sanskrit works. Later on in the period of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the Research Department which was known as Research Library was shifted from Lal Mandi to Iqbal Library Kashmir University;
However, its management control remained with public libraries department. This glorious institution suffered badly in the hands of political and administrative high ups and a time reached when it became entirely non-functional. It lost its basic purpose of establishment. It could neither collect further manuscripts nor could it continue its translation bureau. As a result the Sanskrit records got scattered in various non-research organizations. Of course, those organizations also preserved these manuscripts but they could not translate it into other understandable languages.
These organizations are not to be blamed because the people employed there do not know what they preserved? Besides proper preservations, our Sanskrit records need to be translated so that people can understand the significance of these manuscripts and can also know their ancient land and its people. This is our genuine classical source material by which we can be able to research our past.
No doubt the Mission Manuscript Scheme launched by Government of India has been successful in documentation and cataloguing of a number of such manuscripts. But it is not sufficient, until these manuscripts are not translated and interpreted. Steps are required to be taken to restore the translation bureau of research department and make it functional by providing professional hands to it. That is the only way to protect it.
(Mr. Iqbal Ahmad, 48, was born in Parigam Chek, Kulgam. He is a graduate with Diploma in Numastics, Archaeology and Heritage. He is an archaeologist, writer, and a cultural historian. Mr. Iqbal Ahmad has published 12 reference books on Kashmir archaeology and heritage.)
Home of Sanskrit Learning
Without doubt we should take care of our spoken dialect, Kashmiri, which since centuries has been serving as the medium of our common people although it hardly served as a written language and never as the official language of this land.
As records witness it was Sanskrit and Persian which filled the written and official gaps which were left empty by our mother tongue.
The earliest hand written documents and manuscripts of our classical ages are found in Sanskrit language and the characters adopted are Sharda; although we could not preserve this classical language, we need to take care of those manuscripts and documents which have been written in Sanskrit and Persian languages.
If you visit the old libraries and archive repositories you would definitely come across a number of ancient manuscripts and documents of Sanskrit. Sometimes you would find such manuscripts written in bark leaves and wooden sheets. We cannot decipher these characters. There are only few experts and scholars who can recognize this ancient alphabet and decipher the script. For most others such ancient literatures are beyond their understanding and wisdom.
These ancient records undoubtedly would be most significant, as they pertain to our ancient land and its people. These records have been written in this land and should be genuine documents of our classical literature. Most of such manuscripts are found in various old institutions of Srinagar and Jammu namely the Research Library, Archival repositories of Jammu and Srinagar, SPS Museum, Srinagar Dogra Art Museum, Jammu Centre of Central Asian Studies Museum Srinagar and in the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages. Obviously, even the preservers of this record did not know what they have preserved?
Kashmiris are proud and justly so of the literary glories of their land. For centuries it was the home of the greatest scholars and at least one great Indian religion Shaivism has found some of its most eloquent teachers on the banks of the Vitasta. Some of the greatest Sanskrit poets were born and wrote in the valley and from it has issued in the Sanskrit language; a world famous collection of folklore.
Sanskrit records are the oldest records of Kashmir. But to make matters clear the language did not serve as the language of common people, it was the language of officers of rajas and Maharajas and of the literary classes. Besides, it served as the only written language of this land till the arrival of Persian. If you ask somebody about such collections they would say these are Sharda manuscripts and most of them do not know in which language these have been written.
In fact, most of our earliest manuscripts are written in Sharda alphabet while few in Gilgitian characters, but the language adopted in these records was Sanskrit, so we can call them our Sanskrit records. Kashmir is said to have served as the home of Sanskrit learning; in the words of Grierson, “For upwards of two thousand years Kashmir has been the home of Sanskrit learning and from this small valley have issued masterpieces of history, poetry, romance, fable and philosophy.
In fact whatever records of ancient Kashmir are available they are entirely in Sanskrit. These Sanskrit records are found written on local paper. I have seen many such manuscripts written on brick bark leaves, locally called burz. These entire Sanskrit records are not unidentified and undeciphered. Most of these records have been deciphered earlier and their respective translations are available. One such significant example is of our Kashmir history Rajtarangni which was also written in Sanskrit
But nowadays we have many explanatory translations available of this earliest historic ‘epic’. Who were the people who undertook this mission? The reply is the British missionaries. The first scholars who undertook the translation work of Sanskrit records were European missionaries. Gareison, George Buhler, and Stein were the first line scholars who studied the earliest Kashmir records. Maharaj Ranbir Singh who was very much inspired by the British missionaries founded the first ever Sanskrit Pathshal at Srinagar and employed proficient pandits for teaching the language.
He also set up a translation bureau where Sanskrit texts were translated into Persian and Hindi. The Maharaja was followed by democratic government which established an independent and fully equipped research department where many Sanskrit texts were edited, collated and published. The Research Department of Kashmir which was set up at Lal Mandi in Srinagar did a great work in translation of a number of Sanskrit works. Later on in the period of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the Research Department which was known as Research Library was shifted from Lal Mandi to Iqbal Library Kashmir University;
However, its management control remained with public libraries department. This glorious institution suffered badly in the hands of political and administrative high ups and a time reached when it became entirely non-functional. It lost its basic purpose of establishment. It could neither collect further manuscripts nor could it continue its translation bureau. As a result the Sanskrit records got scattered in various non-research organizations. Of course, those organizations also preserved these manuscripts but they could not translate it into other understandable languages.
These organizations are not to be blamed because the people employed there do not know what they preserved? Besides proper preservations, our Sanskrit records need to be translated so that people can understand the significance of these manuscripts and can also know their ancient land and its people. This is our genuine classical source material by which we can be able to research our past.
No doubt the Mission Manuscript Scheme launched by Government of India has been successful in documentation and cataloguing of a number of such manuscripts. But it is not sufficient, until these manuscripts are not translated and interpreted. Steps are required to be taken to restore the translation bureau of research department and make it functional by providing professional hands to it. That is the only way to protect it.
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