Nageen Lake Dying

 Nageen is dying as two stakeholders - houseboat owners and the lake authority (LAWDA) - point fingers at each other

 Tourism Woes

 M Afzal Sofi (Kashmir Images)

 Srinagar: At a time when authorities claim to make strides to explore new tourist destinations in valley so as to attract maximum number of tourists, age old destinations seem to be neglected by few, playing spoilsport for the tourism industry in Kashmir. Houseboat owners in the world famous Nageen lake blame that the drainage system constructed by Lakes and Waterways Development Authorities (LAWDA) in residential areas around the lake have its outlets open into the lake putting tons of waste into it daily.

 “The drainage system despite being under construction has been put to use by the households located on the banks of lake, who put their waste through it into the lake. The LAWDA authorities despite knowing the fact are turning a blind eye to this sensitive issue,” claimed Mohammad Khaliq Wangnoo, President Travel Agent Society of Kashmir who also owns three houseboats in the Nageen Lake. He claimed that there are around one hundred outlets of this drainage system open into the lake putting the waste from Lal Bazaar, Sadar Bal, Bota Kadal, Badshah Mohalla and other localities into it which jeopardizes the very existence of the lake. 

“This is going on with consent and knowledge of LAWDA officials,” claimed Wangnoo. Wangnoo said that the deposition of waste material in the lake at several spots has turned into a cesspool and is stinking to the extent that tourist prefer to remain away from it. “This has affected our business largely,” said Wangnoo. He said that they are wrongly being portrayed as major lake polluters when there are other main agents causing of pollution to the lake.

“It has been rumored around that houseboat owners in Nageen and Dal are main polluters of these lakes and we have been put under severe restrictions that we are not even allowed to repair our houseboats,” said Wangnoo. He said that government on one hand claim to restore the glory of lake and on other hand authorities ordained to do it contribute to its slow death. He said that LAWDA, before constructing the drainage system had promised to construct the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) which has been under construction for several years showing no signs of completion.

However, the authorities of LAWDA rubbished the blames and said that construction of drainage system has been carried out according to the proper plan and it does not have even a single outlet into the lake. “Also STP is at the last stage of construction which will be put to use within one month,” Irfan Yaseem, Vice Chairman, LAWDA told Kashmir Images. He said that instead of blaming authorities, houseboat owners should first introspect their own doings as they are the people who live inside the lake and contribute to its pollution consistently. “They mint the huge sum from the tourists but shy away in installing septic bathroom system in their boats citing financial constraints,” said Yaseen.

Bankruptcy in Planning

Riyaz says when the government cooks up unwise plans, why blame ordinary citizens for being irresponsible

Dal Lake City Riyaz Ahmad (Greater Kashmir)

The government has shelved the idea of a cantilever bridge along Boulevard after there was a political opposition to the move. But the very mooting of this idea tells us there is something seriously wrong with the way the government mulls its development strategy for the city. For one, it is not for the first time that a dumb idea like this has been floated, it is only the latest in a series that if carried through to their logical conclusion would have divested Srinagar city of an important part of its aesthetic and cultural appeal.

To start with, there was a move to demolish Zainakadal bridge in downtown. And the reason offered was that they were unsafe for traffic. Similarly, there was some controversy about the government’s plan to build a gateway to downtown Srinagar near Baba Demb. While, these decisions can be explained as part of the normal process of the development of Srinagar, it is the thinking behind them that shocks. Why is it that this government comes up with the development plans that may address the immediate infrastructural demands but damage something that is enduring – an old bridge or more appalingly the Dal lake, that already shrinking symbol of Kashmir’s natural beauty. Those who thought of building a cantilever around the lake to facilitate more traffic should have known that this will further shrink the water expanse of Dal lake. But still the idea was mooted and made public and subsequently withdrawn under pressure.

If this is how the government would choose to look after Dal, why blame the people who are converting its waters into a land mass and building houses. In fact, it is this thinking in large part that even the massive allocations of money – an RTI last year found around Rs 215 crores have been spent on lake’s conservation - have made little redeeming difference to the lake’s long term chances of survival. Its water expanse has contracted and the colonies within the lake that were slated to be relocated remain very much there. 

However, Srinagar’s problems are not only Dal-specific. It is a city that is fast falling apart and losing its charm. It is expanding horizontally and this growth is indiscriminate and unchecked, submerging the beauty of the city, with government, of course, playing the spectator. The new colonies are guided by the sick commercial pursuits of a rapacious land mafia. To get a proof, one need not go farther than the wide marshy stretch of the land between Bemina and Batmaloo where one can witness a chaotic spectacle of the work in progress on hundreds of residential houses. Big imposing bungalows reeking of wealth, ostentatious medium sized structures and the petty, obnoxious dwellings are coming up side by side in full anarchic glory.

And this is why in 2010, Srinagar was adjudged as the fourth dirtiest city in India, an ironical designation for a place blessed with nature’s bounty. Having Dal lake, Mughal gardens and Zabarwan hills in the backdrop did nothing to tamper this label. And this is here that the government becomes responsible. A government which is willing to sacrifice Dal for a banal need for road-widening rubs off its atrocious notions of development on the people at large and thus widens the space for civic violations in the society. This is an attitude that needs to be corrected if we are going to even begin to think of the well-being of Srinagar and take steps to preserve its natural beauty. While what has been lost so far due to our collective ignorance and stupid government policies is not restorable for eternity, there is a need to rethink the development of Srinagar. And this rethinking should not only be about reclaiming Srinagar as a physical space but also regenerating it as a cultural and social place.

Heritage Day? In Kashmir it is Heritage Destruction Day

Rising Kashmir documents desecration of Buddhist heritage sites in Kashmir, followed by a report from Irfan about the pathetic condition of major historical artifacts in Kashmir

 Heritage Loot

Apart from being famous for its beautiful locales, Kashmir is also home to many sites of archaeological and geological importance. Srinagar and its outskirts has been cradle of many empires and events. Prominent among their remains are the Burzahoma excavations, located 10 KMs north-east of Srinagar and the Buddhist Stupa Monastery located in-between Harwan and Shalimar gardens of the city. How many of these historically important sites and remains are getting mauled with ignorance and apathy right now is difficult to guess? The recent report of unabated stone excavation at the world renowned Guryal ravine in Khanmoh is appalling to say the least. The site is one of the world's richest fossil sites, being rated by geologists as the World's premier site for the study of species from the Permian period (299-251 million years ago). Being located at a distance of only 8KM from the city centre and in spite of the magisterial ban on quarrying, the illegal practice is still going on. It speaks volumes about the implementation of plans regarding the preservation of Kashmiri heritage by various government agencies.

A particular section of people in Kashmir have not shown any respect for heritage of Kashmir. Expecting concern and action form them is perhaps too much to expect. In 2005, fossil remains of a mammoth skull with complete lower and upper jaws and a broken tusk was discovered at Galander, Pampore. The fossil is right now within the jurisdiction of Jammu University which inherently has been challenged by the authorities at Kashmir University. It was a rare find and might have led to similar researches in the same area. Instead, the findings were relegated to politicking, and the area is getting vandalised mostly for its fertile soil and is under constant threat of quarrying mafia. Valley’s north also hides many such historical sites. A monastery at Baramulla is in ruins. No serious effort has been made on its restoration. Similarly at Kalaroos, Kupwara, history pops up on hills and mountains, sometimes as engravings in rock locally known as Satbaari. But these are lonely stars calling us to discover their galaxies. It’s imperative upon the government to declare these sites as protected monuments and form an action force to work on and for these.

 Celebrating world heritage day in the city is therefore useless until and unless it’s practically implemented by both the government agencies and the public in particular who need to be sensitised about how and why history is important. These remains of history, if conserved, can enrich our understanding of past and clear dust around history, not just of Kashmir but also about the places it had associations with. The recent restoration of Mughal Hamam is a testimony to the fact that many a treasures lie buried, to be found or to be lost forever.

Kashmir Mourns Decaying and Neglected Past!

Irfan Naveed (Greater kashmir)

As World celebrates Heritage Day…

Srinagar: While the government brags of preserving the cultural heritage and is celebrating a ‘day’ for it, the prized and the largest heritage collections of the state are decaying in the crumbling galleries of the Shri Pratap Singh Museum (SPSM) at Lal Mandi, Srinagar.

One fails to understand why the authorities are disinterested in shifting these matchless relics into the newly constructed state-of-the-art museum besides the old structure. Although crores of rupees were spent on the new museum during the Ghulam Nabi Azad’s tenure five years ago, but the facility remains unutilized till date.

Since its completion not a single artifact of the state museum heritages has been shifted to the newly built edifice at Lal Mandi. In fact the collections, archival records, historical monuments and archaeological sites of the state continue to suffer the utter neglect at the hands of the state’s cultural stake-holders.

State museum houses about 1.30 lakh rare artifacts in its nine large but worn-out galleries. If things continue as they are, there are apprehensions that state may lose its varied and wonderful museum and archaeological collections to the dumpy stores of old museum building. In such a situation, celebrating the World Heritage Day is nothing but a callous joke to our denizens. The condition of the state museum heritage at SPSM has been worst hit because of unnecessary delay in shifting its collections to the new complex.

Well placed sources in the department informed that the prestigious museum collections worth millions of rupees are in shambles. The collections have felt prey to dust and dirt in the olden museum walls, and poor maintenances. Civil society should rise to the occasion and get the artifacts shifted to this new complex without further delay otherwise we may loose this repository forever, said a senior museum official who didn’t wan to be identified. Although the heritage preservation and its maintenance has nothing to do with politics but insiders alluded to the political and administrative loyalties prevailing in the Department of Culture. The cultural projects founded in one regime get sabotaged by the successive regime. State’s pioneer and largest cultural institution, the SPS Museum in Srinager is the victim of this political machination at the administrative level, another senior official confessed.

The cultural activists of the state also share similar views. Bilal Ahmad Qadri, a heritage activist, while lashing at the political system of the state said, “This historic museum had suffered ruthlessly at the hands of politicians of the state and has become victim of this unchanged political tradition. The museum founded here in the year 1890 AD by Dogra Maharajas has suffered at the hands of successive ‘democratic’ governments from the period of late Shiekh Mohammad Abdullah. While providing the chronology of events of various museum projects, Qadri said, “From its present Rambir Singh’s Mahal to Tahzeeb Mahal of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Tahzeeb Mahal to Asaar Mahal of Dr Farooq Abdullah, from Asaar Mahal to Harinavas of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and then to the Ghlam Nabi Azad’s new museum complex, all these museum projects fell prey to the politics.

The fabulous structure raised during Azad’s rule is the latest fatality of the shameful politics prevalent in the department. This museum complex was completed in a record period of 18 months and was supposed to be commissioned in August 2008. Although the newly built complex has not served its purpose but it has proved a gold mine for a former Director Museums, who succeeded in getting three consecutive re-employment tenures as Chief Consultant in the state’s Tourism and Culture department since 2009. Besides the unnecessary delay in shifting of state’s treasure troves to newly built museum complex, the state’s Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums, responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the state’s built cultural heritage, is also suffering from mismanagement and administrative crises.

The organization which has been left headless for last several years is in deep crises in the absence of a Director. The department has an acute shortage of human resource, necessary funds and basic infrastructure. These shortcomings not only hamper its routine work but also badly affect its maintenance and excavation works. If official figures are to be believed, the total staff strength of its protected monuments is quite less than the number of stately protected monuments. There are only 14 monument ‘Chowkidars’ (watchmen) engaged for watch and ward duty of about 20 large stately protected monuments and half-a-dozen of excavated archaeological sites scattered throughout the length and breadth of Kashmir Valley. Besides the shortage of staff, the lack of necessary budgetary allocations is also responsible for the poor working of this once prestigious government organization.

In terms of funding, the Department of Culture’s budgetary allotment under the head ‘maintenance of monuments and archaeological sites’ (Non Plan ) has never crossed the figure of Rs1.50 lakhs. During the year 2010-2011 the total funding under this head has been only 1.30 lakhs. Contrary to state’s protected monuments and archaeological sites, the archaeological sites and monuments maintained by the Central archaeological department (Archaeological Survey of India) is really much better in view of their huge funding and manpower.

Winds of Change?

Life appears to be coming back to valley as a convention destination

 Big Corporate Houses Coming to Kashmir

 Srinagar: The efforts of JK Tourism to target high end segment and high spending tourists to visit Kashmir have started to bear dividends as some of the corporate houses have already chosen Srinagar as their next preferred conference venue and some of the big names like MRF tyres are experiencing the world class conferencing facility at SKICC along with cherishing the ideal and most pleasant weather of Kashmir. MRF tyres are having a three days national level conference in which all their regional marketing and sales heads are participating from all over India. The conference started yesterday and will end on Saturday. The participants are enthralled to see the kind of ambience and weather of Kashmir and are planning their post conference trips to the world famous tourist places like Gulmarg and Pahalgam besides they want to explore the golfing infrastructure as well, said a tourism official.

 Meanwhile, the world famous travel name Cox And Kings head of MICE and Bharat Dekho, Yousuf Poonewaala is in Srinagar to explore different possibilities and strategies to promote Kashmir as a venue for high end tourist activities like conferencing and golfing and other high end leisure activities. Poonewala interacted with Minister of State for Tourism, Nasir Aslam Wani along with the Director Tourism Farooq A Shah this morning and offered the services and offices of Cox And Kings world over to promote Jammu and Kashmir as a high end tourist destination.

 After the meeting, Director Tourism Farooq A Shah said that the tourism department was in consistent touch with the Cox And Kings and other such established names in the high end tourist segments. “It is our endeavour to promote and position JK as the hub of high end tourist activities like conferencing and golfing,” he said. “We have recently met professional golf tours India and soon we will be having an important decision making team of them to explore all kinds of possibilities to organize national and international conferencing and golfing events.” The Director Tourism welcomed the offer of Cox And Kings and said that the department was ready to facilitate such names at individual and collective level so that JK becomes round the year and full time tourist destination and the potential can be utilized to the optimal level. (Kashmir Times)

Disappearing Water Bodies

Majeed and Aadil narrate stories of desecration of Kashmir's ancient landmarks resulting in ever shrinking water bodies

(Dr. Abdul Majeed Kak, 65, was born and in Nowhatta, Srinagar. He received his primary education from the Government Middle School in Nowhatta and his secondary school education from Bagi Dilawar Khan Higher Secondary School in Fateh Kadal. He completed his college education at the Islamia College of Science and Commerce in Srinagar. In 1977 he was the first candidate from the University of Kashmir to be selected by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of the Government of India for a doctoral research scholarship at the university leading to a Ph.D. in Botany in 1980. He is currently the Research Coordinator in the Department of Botany at the Islamia College of Science and Commerce in Srinagar. Dr. Kak has over 35 years of teaching experience and research experience of over 25 years. He has received numerous research awards resulting in publication of 70 research papers and has authored two books on Botany. He is presently engaged in promoting and strengthening local and regional museums, a project supported by a grant from the Ministry of Culture, New Delhi.)


The Perishing Dal Lake

Restoration and conservation are mere words associated with the world famous Dal Lake. “Preserve this heritage water body for our posterity” is a hollow slogan. What are the steps taken to preserve this unique magnificent water body? Open the internet and go through the “Chronology of the Dal Lake, and see how much money is dumped in it every year, which is beyond our imagination. Mere deweeding or drugging will not save this lake.

It is awful and shocking to read the news that a metallic four-way road is being constructed, extending to Boulevard, which was once upon a time part of the Dal Lake up to the rim of Takhta-e-Sulaiman (Shanker Acharya) hill. Is it not water grabbing? On one hand the locals secretly grab the water from inside the lake and on the other the government openly permits water grabbing of this pearl of Kashmir.

Dal is the backbone of the State. Millions of people in and outside the State are totally dependent on it, either through tourist industry, trade or by the lake products. Presently, whole city population is dependent on it for drinking water. Once a vast lake with crystal clear water Dal is now ailing for the past 4-5 decades. Countless diseases have infected it from all sides. Construction of restaurants and five star hotels by influential and powerful people has destroyed this lake. These influential people even sideline court orders against the construction.

Just hundred and twenty years ago, Drew (1875), measured the lake and recorded that it is five miles from north to south and two miles from east to west. Prominent historian Hassan (1883) also mentioned that Dal Lake measured approximately three miles long from Gagribal to Telbal, and nearly two miles wide from Khawja yarbal to Nishat Bagh. And it may again approximately be ten miles in circumference. Lawrence (1895) estimated the length of the lake to be four miles and width, two and a half miles. Stein (1899) confirmed the dimensions reported earlier by Lawrence and mentioned that maximum depth of the lake is 30 ft. Very recently Enex (1978) mentioned that total area of the Dal Lake was 21 sq. km, out of which open water area of five basins was 12.1 sq. km.

Recent investigations conducted by IIT Roorkee (2000) recorded the lake area to be about 2.48 km in length and 2.0 km in breadth with a maximum depth of 6 m. They also conducted bathymetric survey, mentioning figures. Water area of the Dal was found to be 13.39 sq. km; Nageen Lake was at 0.79 sq. km; small water bodies, 0.82 sq. km; channels, 1.10 sq. km, and floating gardens 2.41sq. km. So the total area was 18.51 sq. km. These reports clearly record that the lake is shrinking from all sides and is also becoming shallower because of heavy siltation through the inflow channels and large scale urbanization within the lake by converting water into land.

Lakes and Waterways Development Authority too has recently (2008-2009) conducted satellite imaginary status showing the deteriorated condition of both Dal and Nageen lakes. It is obvious that this magnificent water body is shrinking day by day, and very soon it will be one more Anchar lake; a completely dead lake. If only 25 ft will be cut to a long stretch of 5 km from Nehru Park to Nishat, imagine how much water area of the lake will be utilized that is approximately 60 kanals. Whole ecosystem of the lake will get deteriorated.

Is it not better to renew the original, oldest road up to the Nehru park? And then onwards up to Nishat the whole land is open and can be used for extension without affecting the lake water. The only other alternative is the digging of a tunnel in the Kohi Sulaiman, as suggested by some senior citizens. That may solve the problem because the government is not keen and courageous enough to touch the influential hoteliers and the properties of bureaucrats.


The Bijbehara Wetland

The younger generation even doesn’t know that there was a wetland called 'Nadeir Sar’

Syed Adil (Greater Kashmir)

Kashmir from times immemorial has been a place known for its rich biodiversity and a distinct ecology. The natural distribution of mountains and plains, forests, lakes, streams, rivers, and karewas makes it a place of that can be called a ‘near perfect environment’. That is why people often call it a heaven on earth.

But recent times have proven to be of great damage to this rich ecology and biodiversity. The chastity of environment has fell prey to a severe assault by the ‘crown of creation’ whether holding an administrative position or a commoner.

The Bijbehara Wetland known as ‘Nadeir Sar’ is one such example of public and administrative hostility towards the ecological richness. This wetland on the outskirts of river Jhelum alongside the Srinagar-Jammu Highway was once a rich source of Nadur and refuge for large number of migratory birds, but is nowhere to be seen now.

The wetland spread over a good area and surrounded by a swamp double the size of it was not only of ecological importance but served a recreational purpose as well. Recalling the past Bashir Ahmad, a local resident of Bijbehara said, “The devotees to the nearby Shiv temple used to enjoy their stay at its banks and used the big aquatic leaves growing in the ‘Nadeir Sar’ to hold the holy meals known as ‘Prashad’”.

Now even the traces of the wetland cannot be seen as a big commercial centre and a Sumo Stand that has replaced it. The filing of the wetland and the surrounding marsh was initiated in 1997 wide government order number DLB/Works/1364/557 of 1997, Dated: 15-11-97 issued by then Director Urban Local Bodies. “This is a case of commercial development at the cost of nature’s beauty and balance. Wetlands are equally important in maintaining the ecology as other geographical entities are,” Nisar Ahmad, a research scholar in Environmental Studies said.

The reasons of such a harsh treatment to the wetland are not clear but it seems to be a case of tussle between people and administration. The authorities blame the people for all this mess who according to them had illegally occupied the ‘Nadeir Sar and the surrounding swamp. “Some influential people had illegally occupied this State land and planted trees all over the place. The government had no other option but to construct a commercial centre to get back the occupied area,” an official of the Municipal Committee Bijbehara said. “Plus the ‘Nadeir Sar occupied only 4-5 kanals of land, the rest of the 10 kanals were marshy that served no purpose at all,” he added.

The people even though admitting the administration’s version of illegal occupation of the swamp by some people blame the government of taking a wrong decision at a critical time. “No doubt there was illegal occupation of the swamp by some people but the authorities could easily have taken the land back without doing any harm to the ‘Nadeir Sar’,” a concerned resident of Bijbehara said. “Even if filling of the swamp was the only way to get back the land but the ‘Nadeir Sar’ could easily have been retained in its original form. The present Commercial complex would provide a scenic look had the wetland been retained in its vicinity,” he added.

The younger generation of Bijbehara even is not aware of what has been done in their locality. “This is quite unfortunate that such damage was done to a site of ecological and recreational importance. I even do not know that there was a wetland here and I feel sorry about that,” a surprised student of Higher Secondary School Bijbehara said.

Though the Shopping complex and the bus stand that became functional in 2003 provide good basic commercial and transportation facilities, but the damage it has done to the ecology cannot be justified. There is no other option for the people and authorities but to feel sorry about what they did.

Seeking Professionalism in Hiring Practices

Ashraf wonders why a state with the highest unemployment rate is not reorganizing and revamping its hiring practices for fairness and good governance

(Mr. Iftikhar Ashraf, 24, was born in Sopore. He attended the M.E.T., Sopore upto the10th grade and finished his schooling from the Government Higher Secondary School, Sopore. He reveived his B.Sc. degree from the Government Degree College Sopore, and PGDM (MBA) from the Institute for Technology & Management (ITM), Navi Mumbai. He has previously worked for MNC's like Johnson Controls, Office Depot and eOffice Planet, where my work was mostly related to employee relations, and developing new HR tools and HR processes. He is back in Kashmir and writes a weekly column for the Kashmir Monitor and am trying to start a new venture of his own. His interests are reading, traveling and writing (blogging),. He has his own blog named "Alhaqu Murun" (Truth is Bitter).

Kashmir's Human Resources in Disarray!

A recent survey has revealed that Jammu and Kashmir has the highest rate of unemployment among the northern states of India. Unemployment in itself is a big monstrous problem but J&K, especially Kashmir is fighting against a bigger monster (violence and turmoil). More than often the state machinery portrays the first monster as the mother of the second monster, making it more important to tackle unemployment more seriously and in a proper way.

For any State which considers unemployment as its greatest nemesis the first step towards taking it head on would be setting up of an efficient and highly active Human Resource department. Well the state of Jammu & Kashmir has setup Human Resources Management units (HRM units)in five Govt. departments (Health and Medical Education, Power Development, Public Works, School Education, PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control) rather than a central department. The main aim with which these units have been formed is to exclusively look after seniority, promotion, vigilance cases etc in these departments. Well I would say it is an ill aimed move in the right direction and thus a waste of a very important resource. A well designed HR tool can take care of the seniority list or promotions list, these should had been add on activities of these units rather than exclusive. A better use of this resource would be made by employing them to fine tune the HR Policies of these departments, all the ruckus that arises in different departments regarding hiring or promotions is due to wrong or unclear HR policies, it would help in nipping bud at the base altogether .

Recent report in an English daily (Greater Kashmir, published from Kashmir & Jammu) has revealed that as many as 18817 posts are vacant in 18 Govt department. Well this revelation puts a big question mark on Recruitment Agencies and makes the establishment of a central HR department altogether more important. The central HR department can decide and design HR policies for all the departments, do all the HR related work and at the time of hiring they should decide requisites of any job, based on ob analysis (eg qualification, experience etc required) and then forward it to recruitment agency for hiring (PSC or SSRB). This will result in better clarity, better coordination and better accountability (no blame game).

The second step would be to have a proper recruitment policy (in other words, hiring policy, which becomes first step of HR dept.). By recruitment policy I mean a proper well defined rules, who should be hired for what, which should be backed by logic & reason and should not be based on whimsical thinking or should not be twisted and turned for the benefit of near & dear ones. One can find umpteen number examples where the existing policy (in J&K) was twisted to give undue advantage to certain people. And at other times due to lack of clarity wrong people were (are) hired. It is said that the hardest part of job of a HR professional is to find an appropriate person for a job and hiring him. Well in J&K we seem to ignore the importance of this very basic fist step. It can happen only in Kashmir that for a post of labor officer candidate having a degree other than MBA-HR (one who has studied Labor welfare & law)is given preference or where for teaching a management subject the corporate experience is given no importance Or where a student from Barkatullah University (localy known as BOPO) or Dehradun is given preference over a student from Kashmir University or Jammia Millia or Jammia Hamdard or Aligarh Muslim University etc !

More recently the J&K public service commission advertised for the post of Court Manager and MBA set as the required qualification. But again due to lack of clarity problems seem to arise, the PSC authorities are very reluctant in accepting applications from candidates who have PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) which is approved by the AICTE ( All India Council for Technical Education). MBA degree can only be awarded by a University and PGDM is awarded by autonomous education institutes, even the IIM's don't award MBA they too award PGDM! This needs to be addressed immediately.

Let us try to understand the recruitment procedure (mostly followed by SSRB, Universities, Colleges, Schools and other Private Companies in J&K) for any post in any department in J&K; be it Govt, non-Govt, Permanent or contractual. The first step of the recruiting agency is to advertise for the post, in the notification itself it is mentioned that the selections will be on the basis of merit and then details the distribution of Marks for different aspects are listed as such:

Degree Marks
Phd 5
M.Phil 3
B.Ed 15
Masters 10
Interview 20

Now when the response in form of applications comes in overwhelming numbers, the recruitment agency has to come out with a short list (merit list) as to who have qualified for interview. Now it seems to be a good policy, but what we don't pay attention to is how this short listing is done. For short listing they take in to consideration the percentage of the qualifying degree, without taking into consideration from which (college or university) the degree has been earned from. Well we all are well aware and understand that all education institutions can't stand on the same pedestal in terms of their student selection process or education imparted thereafter. So now I ask you is short listing on basis of only percentage (when students of Prist etc have marks %age well above 80 even 90, while students from reputed college only lay between 70-80 ) a good way of gauging talent. Now let me put it this way, can a student who competed on all India level to get admission in a certain college be held equal to a student from PTU (Punjab technical University) or PRIST or any other such institute, wouldn't it account to being unjust.

I am not saying that students from PTU etc are not good enough, what I am trying to convey is don't mix cream with rest because after wards if you try to search for cream it would be same as searching for a needle in heap of hay. The process directly reflects in the quality of the employees that are being hired by different department, these are same people who are entrusted to serve the public in general, Teach our kids in schools & Colleges, sit in chairs of high responsibility and decide what is good for us and what not. Now taking into consideration the far reaching effects that a wrong person can have on the society at large, who would you want the responsibility to be bestowed on?

A better way to deal with this problem is by clubbing different college or universities into groups (Tiers) (A,B,C,D). Then at the time of short listing or selection process giving preference to the students from upper most tiers. Now you would say that the process of forming this list (Tiers) is time consuming and needs discretion as to which college should be included into which tier. To all those people who have this question in mind would like to tell them, well somebody else has already done this hard work for us we just need to compile. NAAC & AICTE (many other private bodies) give recognition and ratings to colleges and universities. We can make use any one of them or a mixture, but the thing that needs to be kept our mind is whatever we choose should be able to satisfy our needs, if not completely then most of our needs. Later on when the Human Resource Department of our state is competent and efficient enough we can make our own list. Where ever need for screening test is felt & is feasible, it can be included in the whole process.

This will increase the quality of the new hires drastically thus slowly having an affect on the overall working of the whole Govt. and Non-Govt. apparatus. This will make the whole procedure more just and transparent. To make this system more effective it needs to be communicated in a very robust way to all the stake holders. And hopefully we will see less litigation after any selected candidate list is released, thus time and resources will be saved. The bright minds will stop cursing themselves for working hard and getting admissions in good colleges and Universities. I am not claiming that this is the Solution of all that is wrong but over all this can be the first step towards the adoption & implementation of the world renowned Human Resource Policies in J&K.

(This Article also appeared in "The Kashmir Monitor" http://www.kashmirmonitor.org/kashmonitor/04012012-ND-kashmirs-human-resources-in-disarray-23803.aspx)

Prospects of a Booming Flower Industry

Ashraf says there is need to go beyond Tulips if one wants to realise the full potential of Kashmir’s flowers!

(Mr. Mohammad Ashraf, 68, 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.)

Going Beyond Tulips

The setting up of the now world famous Tulip garden has achieved much more than it was intended to achieve. It was proposed to be a new attraction for tourists visiting Kashmir. It has become an important stop on the itinerary of any tourist visiting Kashmir during the short life span (about a month) of these flowers. In fact, the Tulip garden itself has helped in the early start of the tourist season. Apart from tourists, the garden has drawn the attention of the local population in a significant way. In fact, the Tulips have made locals also flower conscious. No doubt the valley itself is a big garden. We have all varieties of flowers growing naturally all over the place yet being there all the time, we hardly notice these! Tulips made us notice the flowers. This feeling needs to be cashed now. Tulip garden is a means and not an end in itself.

Generally, in the past Kashmiris welcomed spring with the Almond blossoms in Badamwari. However, now spring is also associated with the Tulips.

The most dramatic sight of Washington which I witnessed during my visit to USA in 1998 was the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It is a very important annual event which takes place in March-April. The Festival has an interesting history. In 1912, an incredible gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees was bestowed on Washington, DC by Tokyo, Japan. Rooted strongly and surviving outside elements, the trees have withstood the test of time and are a treat for everyone, especially the Japanese who come in large numbers to see it. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is preparing for an unprecedented and once-in-a-lifetime celebration, the centenary event! The epic 5-week spectacular, from March 20 – April 27, 2012, will unify and electrify the city, Washington, DC and the region will be abuzz with excitement. At that time I wished we too had an event like that! As already mentioned our Badamwari Festival centred on the Almond Blossoms has been a good local event. However, the blossoming of the Tulips has created an event similar to Washington Cherry Blossom Festival. We could also obtain few thousand Japanese ornamental cherry trees and create a similar festival in some other spot! It would be another attraction for tourists especially the Japanese who think they alone have cherry blossoms!

It is good to have prestigious gardens like the Tulip Garden, Badamwari and historical Mughal Gardens but there is also need to rejuvenate and revitalise dozens of parks all over the city and other parts of the valley. Though a number of parks have been set up in many places for the benefit of the local population, yet quite a few of these are defunct and have become garbage dumps. The main reason is the lack of man power. The Floriculture department has been handed over the maintenance of all parks of various departments like the Hospitality and Protocol and others.

According to norms fixed by Government of India, their staff for the gardens should be more than 6,000 but they do not even have 2,000 people. They have an army of daily-wagers some even 18 years on casual basis. Recently they had gone on strike for regularisation and the whole department had come to a standstill. Higher authorities need to pay attention to this aspect and not only concentrate on Tulip or Mughal Gardens.

Apart from being a tourist attraction, the flowers have a tremendous commercial potential. Kashmir has the capacity to become one of the largest flower growing hubs in the region especially the cut flower variety like tulips, gladiolas, carnations, lilies, and so on. The cut flower project had been in the pipeline for a pretty long time. Reportedly it has taken off during last couple of years. There are reported to be over 1,000 private growers registered with the department. Some young entrepreneurs like one Zakir of Shangus are exporting over couple of hundred thousand bulbs to Delhi and other places. Some others have grown even Tulips under controlled conditions. Department is supposed to have set up walk in cold stores and is currently preparing refrigerated vans for the transportation of cut flowers. A flower mandi is also expected to be made operational soon. The private registered growers get assistance from the centre but there is need for the state to also step in if commercial floriculture is to be made attractive to local youth. Once these ventures take off, they would be making sufficient profit on their own. From the marketing side also the state needs to encourage big houses exporting flowers to foreign countries especially Middle East to step in to pick up products from Kashmir in a big way. In fact, one of the tasks of the prematurely shut down Srinagar-Dubai flight was to carry flowers, agriculture products, and trout from Kashmir to the Gulf region.

Restarting of that flight may provide a big outlet for these Kashmiri products. When Kashmir needs a person like Badshah, it gives birth to a Jehangir! Let us hope our new Jehangir’s go beyond ornamental flowers. Now that the Tulips are in fashion, it would be a real boon if the concerned think and go beyond the Tulips!

MM II - Mushroom Cultivation in Kashmir

Sajad says that the Government is about to boost production of mushrooms and hopefully, it will create new jobs

(Mr. Sajad Kralyari, 29, was born in Kralyar, Srinagar. He had his early schooling at the General Public Mission (GPM) School, and his higher secondary education from the Government High School. He completed his B.Sc. from the Gandhi Memorial College, Rainawari, Srinagar, and Master's degree in journalism from the Media Educational Research Centre (MERC), University of Kashmir in 2008. He subsequently did a brief stint in New Delhi before returning as a correspondent for the Rising Kashmir, working on business and economy related stories.)


Mushroom Your Business

Government has identified mushroom cultivation as a key area of focus under the ‘Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana’ (National Agriculture Development Programme) scheme. Mushrooms prove easy to cultivate in the valley due to their ability to thrive on mule dung and paddy straw which are locally available raw materials.

Mushroom growers in Kashmir are supported by the government through the supply of quality seeds, subsidy and the provision of technical training involved in cultivation.

The Economic Survey 2010-11 also highlights the National Horticulture Technology Mission: Mini Mission II for the purpose of establishing an Integrated Mushroom Development Centre for mushroom production.
Entrepreneurs will benefit from the government’s current attention to this sector offered through helpful incentives, trainings and provision of resources.

In 2009-10, 79,277 spawn bottles were distributed, 150,000 trays/polybags were laid and mushroom production was reported at 5051.61 quintals.

Investment:
Mushrooms are grown in trays installed in a closed room where a particular temperature is maintained. The entrepreneur with no knowledge in farming can start up growing mushrooms in 500 to 800 trays. After gaining experience in a year, the entrepreneur can grow these profitable plants at large scale. A 15 by 15 sq feet room can accommodate 100 trays. Depending upon the size of the rooms, 800 trays can be accommodated accordingly in 8 or less number of rooms.

Trays:
The growers are using wooden or iron trays. The 100 wooden trays may cost around Rs 30000.

Spray pump:
At current market prices, one spray pump costs Rs 4000. For 800 trays two or three spray pumps can be used.

Expenses:

Preparing Compost:
Most commercial mushroom compost is made from the cheapest waste products the mushroom farmers can get. Usually they consist of manure from chicken, paddy straw, wheat brawn, besides using fertilizers, gypsum, soil and spawn.

For 100 trays, preparing compost will cost around Rs 15000 for an entrepreneur in urban areas while as it will be less in rural areas where paddy straw and wheat brawn is abundantly available.

Returns:
There will be spring and autumn crop annually. At 3 kgs of mushroom production per tray, the entrepreneur can have 2400 kilograms per crop. While selling the crop at Rs 150 per kilogram, the entrepreneur can fetch Rs 360000 per crop.

Government Support:
Under centrally sponsored scheme Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY), the Department of agriculture provides Rs 25000 to the farmers for 100 trays.
Government also provides training to the growers at its Departmental-cum-training centers in every district.

Experts speak:
“Mushroom cultivation is picking up in the Valley and has proved successful business venture for unemployed youth. We already have 305 growers in Valley. Unemployed youth should take up this venture for livelihood. There is a huge demand at local, national and international level for mushrooms.” Subject matter expert at Agriculture Department Nazir Ahmad Rather.

“Unemployed youth from urban areas are also registering with department for subsidies and training for mushroom cultivation. It has fetched them good profit.” Mushroom Cultivator at Mushroom Center Agriculture Department, Abid Khan

Biz idea: Mushroom Cultivation, Processing and Packaging
Geographical Location: Rural, Urban areas
Potential Market Size Local market – Rs. 2.52 crore
National market – Rs. 136.12 crore
International market – Rs. 22,140 crore
Key Customer Segments:Local and national households, traders and wholesalers, hospitality sector, marriage season
Land: ¼ of kanal for compost preparing
Investment: Rs 5 lakh for infrastructure
Returns: Rs 7,20,000 annually
Resource: MercyCorps, Agriculture Department

Managing and Conserving a Scarce Natural resource

Ashraf presents a lucid and comprehensive description of challenges and opportunities faced by India, with special emphasis to J&K, on how to manage scarce (and ever shrinking) water resources

(Mr. Mohammad Ashraf Fazili, 68, was born in Srinagar. He received his early schooling from the Government Middle School, Nowhatta, Srinagar, and from M.P. High School, Baghi Dilawar Khan in Srinagar. Mr. Fazili completed his F.Sc. from the Sri Pratap College in Srinagar, and received his Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the Annamalai University with honours grade. He joined the J&K government service upon graduation and steadily rose up the ranks to the position of Chief Engineer at his retirement. He managed a number of important infrastructure projects during his government service, including the Model Town Chrar-i-Sharif, Lower Jhelum Hydro Electric Project, Solid Waste Disposal Scheme Srinagar City, Circular Road Project Srinagar City, etc. He has numerous publications to his credit, including Srinagar the Sun City, Our Ancestors and Saints of Kashmir, etc., which were presented in seminar and symposia. He writes for various journals and is presently working on the Jhelum Valley Civilization.)

Water Resource Development in India and J&K State

The water available to us on Earth is a finite quantity that has not changed over millennia. This has to be compared with increasing demands from a growing population. The population of the world is expected to exceed 8 billion by the year 2050 as against 6 billion in 2000 AD adding over 79 million every year. Apart from shear numbers, the processes of urbanization and development shall vastly increase the demand of fresh water. This situation of a finite supply and a growing demand leads to the projection of water scarcity, which could be severe in some parts of the world.

Institutions like World Water Commission, World Water Council, Global Water Partnership have sprung up to deal with this end and related matters. Efforts have been on to build up national, regional, and global ‘water visions’ for the year 2025 which culminated in a massive World water forum at The Hague in 2000 AD.

There has been growing concern of threatening water scarcity. Seminars and conferences all over the world have suddenly made it a favoured subject. The UNDP, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are concerned about the projected global water scarcity.

It is envisaged that future wars will be fought over water and not oil. The scarcity in parts of India in the last few years and even in J&K State has raised the alarm.

INDIAN SCENARIO

Within India, a consciousness of the importance of the subject of water resources led to the establishment of National Commission on Integrated Water Resources Development plan six years ago which submitted its report in the year 1999.

The annual precipitation by way of rain and snow over India’s land mass is 4,000 cu. Km, but the annual water resources of the country are measured in terms of the ‘run off’. This has been estimated by the National Commission as 1,953 cu. Km. (including both surface and ground water resources). The annual ‘usable’ water resources of the country are 690 cu. km. of the surface water and 396 cu. km. ground water making a total of 1086 cu. km. The present quantum of use in put around 600 cu. km.

Thus in national terms the position is not uncomfortable at the moment, though this will change with the growth of population and the process of urbanization and development. The National Commission has come to the conclusion that by 2050 the demand will Catch up with the supply. There will be a difficult situation, provided that a number of measures on the demand and supply sides are taken in time.

VARIATIONS

National aggregates and averages are not useful. There are wide variations in the availability of water in the country. Much of the rainfall occurs within a few months during the year and even during that period, the intensity is concentrated within a few weeks. There is a wide range in precipitation from 100 mm in Rajasthan to 11,000 mm. in Cherrapunji. Sixty percent of the water resources of India are to be found in the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna river systems, which account for 33 percent of the geographical area of the country; 11 percent in the west flowing rivers south of Tapti covering 3 percent of the area; and the balance 29 percent in the remaining river systems spread over 64 percent of the land area.

The Himalayan Rivers are snow-fed and perennial, where as the peninsular rivers are dependent on the monsoons and therefore seasonal. Again the North and the East are well endowed with water, whereas the west and south are water short. Apart from the desert areas of Rajasthan, there are arid or drought prone areas in parts of Gujrat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and the eastern parts of the country experience devastating floods from time to time.

SOLUTIONS

The solutions suggested have been (a) storing river waters in reservoirs behind large dams to transfer water from the season of abundance to that of scarcity (b) Water transfers from surplus areas to water short areas. Both large storages (i.e reservoirs) and the ‘linking of rivers’ (i.e inter basin transfers) have been striking the minds of water resource planners. The idea of gravity link canal between the Brahmaputra and Ganga through Bangladesh was rejected by Bangladesh and has been abandoned but the idea of tapping the waters of the Brahmaputra continues to exercise the minds of our water planners.

The idea of Ganga- Cauvery link mooted by Dr. K. L. Rao and a proposal of garland canal – since discarded; are still haunting the minds of Indian public, particularly the water-short south. The National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has been studying the resources of different basins for over two decades, assessing the surpluses for transfer and identifying possibility of storages, links and transfers. The possibility of transferring waters from the Mahanadi to Godavari and thence to Krishna, the Pennar and the cauvery, though it is difficult to persuade Orissa and Andra Pradesh that there is a surplus in the Mahanadi or in the Godavri.

Recently even supreme court had to intervene over water dispute between the two southern States.

Besides the diversion of west- flowing rivers eastwards has also met with resistance. In recent years, the NWDA has been studying the Himalayan rivers, but this is an even more difficult subject.

Though the National Commission talks about demand management, economy in water use, resource conservation etc. and local harvesting and watershed development projects, which are regarded as the primary answer to the future needs of a growing population. The report also discusses the financing of the projects and the contributing role of private sector participation in the massive effort that is envisaged.

Thus at the regional/ international level and at the national level there seems to be wide spread agreement that (a) to the projected water needs of the future an important part of the answer lies in water Resource Development Projects and (b) considering the financial constraints and managerial limitations of government, a significant part of that development will have to come from the Private sector.

Various Projects under Consideration

A number of projects are envisaged for hydroelectricity and Irrigation and flood moderation in some cases in Nepal, Karnali, Pancheswar, Sapatakosi etc. Bangladesh being interested in these and other projects in Nepal form the point of view of augmenting the lean season flows of the Ganga. In India the Tehri Hydroelectric Project in Himalayas, is being built despite opposition. Several projects have been formulated in Brahmaputra besides the idea of transfer of waters from Brahmaputra is still live. In Bhutan, Mamas and Sankosh projects are to come up. In Tripura, the Tipaimukh project in Magna/Barak has been proposed. On the Teesta, a tributary of the Brahamputra, both India and Bangladesh have built Barrages and overcome inadequacy of water, the idea of building a dam has been mooted.

The NWDA has been studying the possibility of transfer of waters from the Mahanadi to the Godavari and thence to Krishna, the Pennar and the Cauvery. This would involve building a number of dams and links. The idea of transfer from the Himalayan rivers to the Peninsular rivers is also on the anvil. The State Govt’s of Maharashtha Karnatka and Andhra Pradesh may embark on a number of projects with a view to establishing or improving their respective claims under the Awards of Tribunals on the shared rivers. On the Narmada, apart from the major projects (Sardar Sorovar, Narmada Sagar), a host of other projects, big and small are envisaged in the overall plan. Finally there is the idea of diversion of some west flowing peninsular rivers eastwards.

However not many of these projects one likely to materialize one to financial constraints and strong opposition to the projects. Assuming if most of these materialize there will be an addition to hydroelectric power capacity, creation of additional irrigation potential and consequent enhancement of agricultural production, some flood moderation and possibly an addition to navigation possibilities.

There will also be adverse impacts (environmental, social and human) and there can be no assurance that the benefit will outweigh these costs. Assuming however, the gains will exceed costs, the totality of the projects taken together will constitute a massive onslaught on nature.

COMMON CONSEQUENCES

The impact will vary from case to case but the common factor shall be violent disturbances of prestine areas, varying degrees of submergence of land including forests in some cases, impact on flora and fauna, leading to a reduction in biodiversity, in particular, severe impacts on the fish population in the rivers, the stilling of flowing waters leading to temperature stratification, variations in nutrient content and dissolved oxygen rendering the water inhospitable to aquatic life, drastic changes in the river regime down stream of the dam, increased pollution levels, and so on. Some of these effects cannot be remedied or even mitigated and in some cases efforts at mitigating or compensating for environment impacts create further problems. Further, it is clear from past experience, that all the consequences and ramifications arising from the damming of a river cannot really be fully foreseen and planned for.

In most cases there will be varying degrees of displacement of human settlements, with the attendant problems of resettlement and rehabilitation, this impact falls on poor and disadvantaged sections particularly tribal communities.

Inspite of all these disadvantages, it is established that future needs cannot be met without massive ‘Water Resources Development’ i.e large storage (dam and reservoir) projects and that local rainwater harvesting and watershed development, while very necessary, are bound to remain secondary and supplementary to large projects & cannot be a major component of water resource planning. However some opine that they see great potential in water harvesting and watershed development and are convinced that these activities undertaken in several thousands of locations all over the country, are capable of making a substantial contribution towards the future needs, while being environmentally benign, people centered and conducive to equity.

Thus a major push needs to be given to these activities. The need for large projects can be minimized (if not eliminated) and the environmental and socials and human impacts will be correspondingly reduced.

J & K SCENARIO

The total area of 2,22,236 Sq. Kms. of J & K State is drained by three Rivers namely Indus, Chenab and Jhelum. A small part of the state is drained by Ravi River in Katha District. The three rivers basins form three district regions of Ladakh and Kargil district, Jammu Division and Kashmir valley. Having Corresponding annual yield of 9.5 million 42.76 million and 90 lac Acre ft. respectively.

In Kashmir Division out of 3.40 lac hectares only 2.02 hectares one irrigated and in Jammu division out of 3.73 lac hectares only 0.88 lac hectares one irrigated. In case of Leh and Kargil District cultivation is done only in irrigated area of 17,950 hectares as due to scanty rains and lack of moisture nothing grows on unirrigated lands.

Indus Water Treaty Implications

As per Indus Water Treaty the basin wise limitations for maximum irrigation that can be done are: -
Indus: 70,000 acres
Jhelum 4,00,000 acres
Chenab 2,25,000 acres

However in case of Chenab there is limitation of 50,000 acres only from flow irrigation. The balance can be irrigated only if we construct conservation storages.

According to the study made by CWC, 84,753 hect. can be yet be irrigated in Chenab Basin and 26,000 hect. can be brought in irrigation in Leh District under the treaty. The entire cultivated area can be brought under irrigation within limits of Indus Treaty, if it were physically possible in Jhelum Basin.

LEH & KARGIL DISTRICT

Subsequently schemes with grass potential of 5288 hect. were reported taken up in Leh District, 1111 hect. in Kargil District, schemes for 2200 hect. were identified in Leh and 500 hect. in Kargil District. Even after this as provision of Indus treaty there still remained scope of irrigation of 18,000 hect. in Leh.

In Indus Water Treaty there is restriction on irrigation but there is no restriction on moisture conservation measures. In Leh and Kargil District there are 15 Nallah’s, which have surplus discharges in the month of July- August. Substantial areas of catchment of these Nallah’s could be made productive by constructing small and big tanks, where there are sites available. This surplus water could be made to seep into ground so that vegetable cover grows on these lands.

JHELUM BASIN

About 66% area is already irrigated. A large no. of lift irrigation projects have come up including some medium schemes like koil irrigation, Lete Pora Scheme, Tral Rajpora scheme, Besides there are orchards and Labroo lands not amenable to irrigation.

There are south facing slopes karewas etc. which are least productive. Massive moisture conservation on there slopes will make them productive; which if properly treated could be big source of fodder trees.
CHENAB BASIN: Conservation storage is necessary to irrigate the remaining areas because of Indus water treaty obligations. Maximum un irrigated areas are in Rajouri and Udhampore. The Doda district being highly mountainous may not be amenable to irrigation.

Surplus water of July, August and February and January can be stored to irrigate more areas which may envisage construction of small/ big tanks with small dams for which investigation can be taken up.

CONCLUSION

Long term perspective of utilization of water resources have to be:
i)To irrigate remaining areas within the Indus Water Treaty limits in Leh, Kargil, Jammu and Kashmir Divisions.
ii)To have water harvesting, moisture/ soil retention measures to make barren hill slops productive.
iii)To exploit identified hydro potential of 9935 M.W in entire State.

The tasks are gigantic and pose a challenge to the Engineers and planners of the time.

University of North Texas Hosts a 2-day Symposium on Kashmir

Sadaf organizes a 2-day conference on Kashmir in the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI)

(Dr. Sadaf Munshi was born in Srinagar and received her early schooling there. She completed her B.Sc in Bio-sciences from the University of Kashmir, followed by a M.A. and M.Phil in the Department of Linguistics from the Delhi University, and her doctorate (Ph.D.) from the Department of Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in Burushaski. She is currently the Assistant Professor in Linguistics and Technical Communication, at the University of North Texas (UNT) in tenure track.)

University of North Texas Hosts a 2-day Symposium on Kashmir

On behalf of the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI), a two day symposium “Kashmir: A Way Forward” was held at the University of North Texas on April 5th and 6th. The symposium was organized and coordinated by UNT faculty and CAMCSI affiliate Dr. Sadaf Munshi, assistant professor in the department of Linguistics and Technical Communication. The event was sponsored by various UNT departments, viz., CAMCSI, Linguistics and Technical Communication, Peace Studies Program, Department of History, and Multicultural Center. Among the speakers included Dr. Chitralekha Zutshi, Dr. Vijay Sazawal, Raja Muzaffar, Arti Tiku Kaul, and Ajay Raina.

The Symposium began on Thursday, April 5th with the screening of the documentary film Apour Ti Yapour by Ajay Raina followed by discussions and question answer with the documentary maker, who has made films on and covered different aspects of Kashmir conflict. The program continued on Friday, April 6th with an all-day series of talks by the speakers and concluded with a panel discussion with the speakers moderated by Dr Sadaf Munshi. The event was attended by eminent scholars, intellectuals, academicians, students and members of the South Asian community in Dallas, Fort-Worth, Plano and adjoining areas. Among these included the Director of the CAMCSI program, Dr Nada Shabout, associate professor in Art History, and Dr Qaiser Abbas, Assistant Dean of the College of Education at UNT.

The symposium highlights included various topics with special focus on the human aspects of the Kashmir conflict, especially the social and the psychological costs of the conflict. Thus, the documentary film by Ajay Raina brought forth the question of the Line of Control (LOC) and the human suffering as a result of the political division between India and Pakistan. The talk by Dr Chitralekha Zutshi, Associate Professor of History, College of William and Mary, and author ofLanguages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir, presented a historical background of the Kashmiri nationalism and considered how the Kashmiri narrative tradition had, over the course of time, shaped the contours of Kashmir as a discursive space and territorial entity in the nineteenth century. She argued that “far from being mere instruments within larger empires, the inhabitants of Kashmir were active participants, through their historical literature, in defining and negotiating the status and meaning of their land within these imperial entities. The Kashmiri narrative tradition embodied a trans-local literary imagination as it drew on local, regional and universal ideas to give meaning to Kashmir and its people as coherent entities”.

Arti Tiku Kaul, the famous radio and television artist and classical singer and poet, discussed the impact of Kashmir conflict on fine arts and their future prospects. She talked about the renaissance state of fine arts in Kashmir in the 70’s and 80’s and their sharp decline in the 90’s and onwards. Acknowledging and appreciating the emergence and growth of new talent in the valley in the recent years as well as regretting the corruption of the native traditions, Arti stressed on the need for authentic and quality training in the field of fine arts and music in Kashmir which had suffered immensely at the hands of the conflict. Arti concluded her talk with a very emotional and beautiful rendition of the Lal Vaakh shiv chuy thali thali rau zaan, mau zaan hyund tay musalmaan, which set the audience in tears.

In his talk entitled ‘The Kashmir Conundrum”, Dr Vijay Sazawal (policy analyst and commentator specializing in local governance and intra-community issues affecting political dynamics within the Kashmir valley) presented a kaleidoscope of changes taking place in the Kashmiri society at a micro level which have “far reaching consequences on Kashmir’s political and social landscape, making the issue more volatile and intractable”. Talking about the “dysfunctional state”, the genesis of corruption, functioning (or lack of functioning) of the civil society, the silent cultural turmoil and the miseries faced by the Kashmiri society, Dr Sazawal argued that “similarities exist between the J& K [state] and the failed sub-Saharan states of Africa which had acquired tags like “corruptocracies”, or “chaosocracies””. He further maintained that “there is a continuing contest for political and economic domination between elites, politicians, and separatists …..”. Consequently, the state is “unable to provide basic services and security”, thus, experiencing a “triple crisis of governance” – viz., lack of accountability, lack of rule of law, and inability to resolve economic crisis. The author concluded with a discussion on the role of print media in the valley and how it affects both journalists and public in grappling with present issues and future expectations.

The talk by Mr Raja Muzaffar, the executive member of the Kashmir Committee Dallas Peace Center, Texas, who has represented the Kashmiri separatist voice at various international forums, deliberated on the complexity of the Kashmir conflict, the evolution of India and Pakistan into vowed nuclear weapons states, and other threats and opportunities that had also become more complex over time. Mr Muzaffar said that “finding out a practicable, acceptable and amicable solution to the core issue of Kashmir, lasting peace and economic prosperity in the whole region of South Asia is absolutely interlinked….”. He further added that “presently the Kashmir Conflict can be largely understood as a case of three competing nationalisms or national ideologies viz. the Indian, Pakistani and Kashmiri nationalism. India and Pakistan needs to settle the Kashmir issue for their own well being and that of the entire region. In doing so they must both work with the people of Kashmir to secure a peaceful future. Any just and lasting solution to the Kashmir conflict will require creatively reconciling between these three national identities and competing claims of self-determination in Indian controlled and Pakistani controlled parts of Kashmir”.

The symposium concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Dr Sadaf Munshi with speakers Chitralekha Zutshi, Vijay Sazawal, Raja Muzaffar and Arti Kaul (Another panelist, Altaf Qadri was unable to make his presence to the symposium). The panel focused on three topics: 1) the issue of the Line of Control, 2) the question of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community, and, 3) perspectives on the current state of affairs in Kashmir and future prospects of lasting peace. Terming the LOC as “an ongoing partition”, Dr Zutshi maintained that “there can’t be a solution unless the question of LOC is resolved, but it can’t be an end in itself, it has to be a part of a bigger solution, but you have to take into account the human cost of the division, the human suffering. It is too high and usually disappears in this talk of political solution….”. The panelists deplored the fact that the travel across the LOC had been made very difficult because “India and Pakistan wanted to maintain a certain idea of the other side” which would otherwise be dispelled should the travel restrictions be relaxed. With regard to the proposals aimed to bridge the chasm between the two estranged communities and bringing them together as stakeholders in resolving the conflict, Dr Sazawal said that “the biggest challenge in this regard was whether there will be a political space for the Kashmiri Pandits once they are there”, of which he regrettably felt that there was not “any discussion in the civil society” about the possibility of creating such a political space. He expressed the need for a “state building structure” as a precursor of positive developments in J & K. Referring to the Indian state of Gujarat as the “most autonomous state even without the Article 370”, Dr Sazawal said that Gujarat happens to have “the lowest unemployment rate because it has the cleanest governance”.


To see Author's PowerPoint presentation, please open the following link:

http://kashmirforum.org/news.htm