JAI DUGGAR
This story is about the 2G network and state of democracy in Jammu&Kashmir. If something broken is mended, it is not called broken anymore; but if something in the process of amendment is left forgotten- then it will be called j&k! Didn't get it? About an year ago from now, the central government removed article 370 from our constitution as it removed Congress party from the country. There were two kinds of people most happy by this decision- First, news channel owners who got content, high TRP for entire month directly just by sitting in their studios. "Opposition has created an uproar over the visit of European Union delegates in J&K" "Foreign visitors in J&K are bothering members of ill-propaganda gang!" Second were the old Indian uncles who turned political analysts overnight and began their planning to buy property near Dal lake. But how did this decision impact the citizens of J&K, their daily lives? We care for them as much as the conservative families care for a girl's consent.
With the revocation of Article 370 from Kashmir, government made huge promises. There is nothing to be surprised by it. These huge promises by politicians in their long speeches are like SUPW period in school. Nobody pays much attention to either. Today, after a year of this decision, government is celebrating it across the country. The problem doesn't lie with this celebration. Everybody needs a bit of a celebration, especially in these times of corona. But to celebrate a step, we should also see whether that particular step has been able to successfully achieve its objectives. Forget safety, security and economy; even the uncle from Haryana has forgotten his dream of settling in Kashmir. Why did this happen? Let's talk about it.
5th August 2019, it was just another day for the rest of India; Everything was going in the entire country but J&K was in a state of commotion since August 4th itself. On August 5th 2019, Home minister Amit Shah announced the abrogation of Article 370, and bifurcated the state into two union territories. Government also prepared a long list of objectives to be achieved by this decision along with the announcement. The list said that this step will bring prosperity in Kashmir, increase in industrialization, rise in job opportunities for youth in Kashmir, expansion of horticulture and handicraft industry, boost tourism industry, protection of the rights of women and scheduled tribes in Kashmir, etc. etc. I am not even making this up, the list is from government authorities. Now whether these objectives were achieved or not, I'll tell you in a short while, but there was one such scheme that was implemented in Kashmir overnight- the scheme was Lockdown. You see, the government cares so much for the JKians. They were training them for protection against corona since a year. You question them for no reasons! This was what happened a year ago.
The abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir brought so much joy to the people of India as if they found some leftover crackers from Diwali. Although we don't care much about entire country's economy, let alone the economy of JK; but many supported this step claiming that it will help to revive JK's economy. From August 2019 to December 2019, Kashmir economy suffered a loss of Rs 15000 crore right after Article 370 was scrapped. Already there was a lockdown on the grounds of national security and then to top that-Corona. After all this, according to the trade body in Kashmir, KCCI, businesses in Kashmir have suffered a loss of estimated Rs 40,000 crores. Creation of new job opportunities is a far-fetched dream now, while over 90000 jobs are already lost in the handicraft, tourism and information technology sectors. In June 2019, the unemployment rate in Kashmir was at 15.89% which was the least in the country then. Today, the youth of Kashmir is forced to migrate to other parts of India in search of jobs. This is when 23000 government posts are vacant in Kashmir only. August 5th brought such normalcy in Kashmir that the tourism sector is frozen to death except the organized visit of EU delegates. The apple industry of Kashmir, worth Rs 8000 crores, was worst affected and this caused Kashmir's GDP to fall sharply. but this shouldn't affect the party's celebration though.
Anyway, no body cares for apple, not even in an apolitical interview. Political propaganda comes first, then apple and everything else! Everyone, from small to big businessmen, are tensed, but if we go by government's target then by this decision Kashmiri businesses are giving serious competition to Ambani. Not just Jk, recently students, religious and political groups in Ladakh protested on the lack of job creations in Ladakh. Even after a year there is no recruitment board, no job security other than a few contractual jobs by private firms It seems that the government needs to declare 'Maggie points' as employment too along with 'pakora' shops. This will solve all problems. Our government's schemes are like time-tables that we make in school. We can only paste it on the wall and feel elated just by looking at it, don't think of its implementation. In a similar ambitious time-table, the second big promise by the government was to provide better education and more job opportunities for the children and youth of Kashmir. For this, former governor of J&K, Satyapal Malik announced a youth package a few months after the abrogation of Article 370. 50000 youths were promised employment under this package. Promise was made but it does not mean that it needs to be fulfilled!
No job notification regarding this scheme has been released till now. People have hopes that someday this "News" will be broadcasted on the TV News Channels. Along with this, children in JK couldn't even log in to their Facebook accounts for months, forget Instagram. And even today, JKians are living with 2G network only. Work from home and Study from home must be going very smoothly there! In rest of the India, people get a stroke if their TV signal is lost for two minutes. Dad calls up everybody from cable TV to weather department to get it fixed. Then there is JK, where there is no source of information whatsoever. Let alone the creation of new jobs, many couldn't apply or give examination for the job opportunities already available because of poor internet. Not just job notifications, government has ensured that the jk won't get any information with their New Media Policy. New Media Policy, it can also be called No Media Policy in simpler terms. I mean to say that under this policy, any news media agency that spreads violence, country's Ekta(unity)... . so a news agency that questions country's unity, who won't follow the norms of public decency, such news agencies won't get any ad, even the mandatory paytm or government ads.
Moreover, news agencies spreading fake news, unethical news or indulging in anti-national activities shall be shorn off their official recognition and access. Thankfully our news channels are not based in Kashmir, else they would have been shut down already. Already the government has utilized their super-power of UAPA, sedition to detain many journalists in Kashmir. Now there is a special law for it. In this bill, what will be considered unethical, anti-national; what can anger the authorities; government forgot to define this just as it forgot demonetization. So the J&K's information department can decide what is right and what is wrong. Basically entire catalog is ready of ways to butcher the goat, now the government has to decide their favorite. Now, let's come to the most important promise by government that they made with the revocation of Article 370. Peace in Kashmir.
Government made this easy in just one stroke- by locking down all Kashmiris in their houses, utilizing AFSPA at its best, and by detaining all the local politicians. I mean that when there will be no one on the streets then there will be peace only, right? You don't get the logic. One should learn the art of masterstroke from our government. Government believed that scrapping of Article 370 would help in curbing terrorism and militancy, Pakistan will get a strong hit. I don't know about Pakistan, but bifurcation of J&K into two union territories made China a third member in this conflict. This has caused an increase in our strain, at least in the international front. The consequences of which we just witnessed in the Ladakh stand-off and this is not going to halt anytime soon. Not just at the borders, but in UN too, China is bringing up the Kashmir issue and causing issues for the Indian government. China has its own human rights issues, but it is trying to make our human rights issue an international matter!! Besides, there is also an increase in militancy in 2019 from 2017 and 2018.
If we look at the early reports of 2020, the situation is bound to get even worse than before. Although, you must only be bothered by human rights violations as much as corona is bothered by 'Bhabhi ji Papad', but please get this: Human Rights forum has recently released a report that reveals how people are being kept in jail without getting bail or any hearing using the PSA and UAPA act. The people of Ladhak are also complaining that government has left them in a lawless state. They are demanding new laws to safeguard their rights. Although, law is not in any better shape in the rest of the country as well ! Well.. let's move forward. Today, after a year when this huge step was taken, finding normalcy in Kashmir is as impossible as finding stars in Delhi's pollution. Like usual, we have also forgotten about this issue along with the government. Amidst the call for development and nationalism, the exploitation of Kashmiris, halting the lives of innocent kids are nothing but collateral damage for us. But after one year, we should also introspect that the aims, reasons for which government has locked the Kashmiris in their houses are accomplished or not. So, that's all f0r today....
THANK YOU.
0 Comments: