Opinion
Kashmir 'Packages'
– When Will They Ever Learn?
by Ashok Jaitly
Nothing epitomizes the
quiescence of the powers that be in New Delhi towards the sensibilities
of people of Jammu and Kashmir better than the cynical 'packages' handed
out during every prime ministerial visit.
Despite the hype created by the state's Congress-Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Jammu
and Kashmir last week turned out to be yet another damp squib. It has
not only exacerbated the general disillusionment with the ruling
coalition but also drawn severe flak from those very sections that
clearly were being wooed with an eye to the forthcoming assembly
elections.
In yet another attempt to assuage the bitter memories of the Kashmiri
Pandit community and persuade them to return to the valley, Manmohan
Singh announced a house building grant of Rs.750,000 for each family,
continued relief for two years till they resettle and grants for the
restoration of agricultural holdings and orchards which had been
abandoned in the wake of militancy and migration. However, he neglected
to add that 'conditions apply'.
First, they will have to form a 'group housing society.' Somewhat like
Alice, one is driven to ask, who is 'they.' It is common knowledge that
the community is divided into several antagonistic factions and no one
body can be called fully representative.
The second caveat is that the state government has to identify and
acquire land for society. Apart from the fact that this is a very scarce
commodity and several past efforts to locate a secure haven in south
Kashmir have come to naught, there is also no commitment to meeting the
cost of the land in the valley, which is as high as in many parts of
Delhi! If the hugely deficit state budget is to meet this burden the
scheme is clearly a non-starter.
The fine print underscoring the offer of grants for restoration of
agricultural holdings and orchards is that this was 'under
consideration.' Not even the most naïve would be ignorant that this is
the classical bureaucratic euphemism for obfuscation. Those savvier with
ground realities have understandably expressed their cynicism.
Unfortunately, nobody thought it necessary to advise Manmohan Singh that
it is totally unrealistic to expect that such lands would be lying
uncared for after two long decades! In actual fact, they have been sold
off or leased out for cultivation if not illegally occupied by
unscrupulous elements.
It should therefore come as no surprise that all sections of the Pandit
community have expressed their resentment in no uncertain terms. Both
factions of Pannun Kashmir came together to condemn the 'package' and
accused state Congress president and central Water Resources Minister
Saifuddin Soz of having "misled" the prime minister. The Kashmir Samiti
Delhi called it "unacceptable" while the J&K Minority Forum has been
equally dismissive.
The relief announced for meeting the long-standing demands of the
refugees of 1947 from Pakistan-administered Kashmir and West Pakistan
who have settled in and around Jammu is even more equivocal. For the
former, in a gesture of apparent generosity, the compensation for their
lost lands of Rs.40,000 per acre declared by the centre in 2000 but not
delivered was raised to Rs.200,000 per acre.
Although Rs.500 million has been earmarked for this, there is no
assurance as to when this would be actually distributed. The displaced
persons from West Pakistan were sought to be mollified with vague
proposals of technical training for youth and bank loans without
collateral for self-employment. With a resentful sense of déjà vu the
leaders of both groups, which include members of the Congress party,
have summarily rejected all these offers.
At a function a few days ago, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's mournful
pleas for "better appreciation instead of outright criticism" of this
"meaningful beginning" were met with angry outbursts and even a walkout
by some.
In another telling statement to the media, Shakeel Qaladar, president of
the Chamber of Industry in Kashmir expressed his wish to call upon the
prime minister and "humbly" return the 'central industrial package'
extended in 2004, which had neither been effective in making Kashmir a
'preferred' place for investment, nor had it succeeded in reviving the
eroded industrial base.
According to him, all the reported new industrial investment of Rs.40
billion had gone to Jammu, thereby creating a further schism between the
two regions.
And, to top it all, the highlight of the prime minister's two-day
programme at which the 390-MW Dul Hasti hydel project was 'dedicated to
the nation', instead of being greeted as a welcome step towards meeting
the state's chronic energy shortage, has only generated more sarcastic
comment.
Not only has the project been 25 years in the building (the foundation
stone was laid by Indira Gandhi in 1983) during which period the cost
escalated from Rs.1.83 billion to Rs.52.28 billion but the expectation
that it would be transferred to the state as recommended by the
Rangarajan Committee has been belied.
On the contrary, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde only succeeded in
putting salt on the wound by gratuitously announcing that the state's
share of free power from the project would be increased from 12 percent
to 13 percent and completion of all ongoing central power schemes would
be "speeded up!"
In the context of the prime minister's own observation that regretfully
a mere 1,865 MW or 12 percent of the state's hydro potential of 15,000
MW has been energized, the dismal performance of the NHPC in utilizing
only Rs.6.88 billion of the Rs.180 billion allotted in the 2004
'package' for new projects like Uri II and Kishenganga has seriously
damaged the credibility of the central government.
With the visible reduction in the levels of violence and tension and the
optimistic signals emerging from the new dispensation in Pakistan, one
would have expected New Delhi to be more proactive in seizing this
opportunity to generate greater confidence amongst the citizens of the
state about their future. Instead, the mandarins of the establishment by
their callous obfuscation continue to propagate the age-old, insensitive
mindset that has bedeviled centre-state relations for decades. When will
they ever learn?
(Ashok Jaitly is a former chief
secretary of Jammu and Kashmir. He can be reached at
ajaitly@gmail.com)
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