Commentary: Turning J&K into a “role model of development and prosperity”

Arka Chakraborty and Kasturi Guha

During the third phase of Back to Village programme, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha traveled across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The LG held meetings in several districts of the UT to “inculcate the spirit of B2V-3” among the masses as well as generate faith in the administration’s ability to provide social security, employment and development to the inhabitants of the conflict-stricken region. During the meetings, LG Sinha highlighted the achievements and goals of the government with an aim to generate hope of development among the people. That said, in order to accelerate the efforts taken by the administration in the third phase of the B2V programme, it is very important for the LG administration to identify the challenges and the previous efforts thereof to deliver on the promise of turning J&K into a “role model of development and prosperity”.

Promises and Ambitions

LG Manoj Sinha has promised to turn J&K into a benchmark of equitable growth for the rest of the country. His administration hopes to achieve this goal with a four-point plan,“…accelerating growth, providing benefits of social security and social welfare schemes to all, eliminating regional disparities and effective execution of works.” The LG has promised that every stakeholder in the UT will benefit from the schemes, both announced and unannounced.

As most of the population in the UT is dependent on horticulture and agriculture, these sectors have received a special emphasis and nine major schemes have been announced to this end. The officials were instructed to use various mediums to effectively create awareness about these schemes.

These schemes will pave the way for micro-irrigation. Special equipments will be introduced at block levels to increase harvests in small fields. The Farmer-Mandi links will be strengthened to provide the farmers with more options and fairer prices for their products. The number of satellite markets will be increased from 17 to 22. Agro-based industries will also come up in the UT.

Horticulture is one of J&K’s highlights in terms of economy and the government is planning to bolster the same by helping to set up food processing units by providing 50% of the total investment. Allied sectors like storage units will also be encouraged and provided support. One food processing unit, costing about Rs. 10 lakh, will provide employment for 20-25 people.  During his visit to Kupwara and Shopian districts, the LG said that the Kupwara district will be turned into a hub of walnut production and processing (apart from apple production), whereas apple production and processing will be the main focus in Shopian.

The LG has also said that a ‘Mega Industrial Package’ is soon to be introduced which will be ‘among the best in the country’ and will focus on Industry, Business and Services, Agriculture and Allied Sectors, Village Industries, Technology and Innovation, Infrastructure, Financial Inclusion & Social Security.

The handicraft industry sector, which has always been one of J&K’s features, will be pushed forward by promoting local crafts and imparting traditional skill-training to generate self-employment.

Animal husbandry as a means of self-employment shall also be provided assistance and its allied sectors like fisheries, dairy industry and storage facility will also be encouraged.

In order to inculcate entrepreneurial spirit at the village level, two educated youth from every Panchayat will be selected by the government to provide assistance of Rs. 5 lakhs each so that they can set up their own businesses. Also, a special desk in Jammu and Kashmir Bank will be created to provide sufficient handholding and assistance to young entrepreneurs. Around 8500 young entrepreneurs will be benefited from this scheme which will hopefully become future employers.

Another major goal of the government, as highlighted by the LG, is 100% saturation of social security and individual beneficiary oriented schemes. The Jammu and Kashmir Health Scheme, for example, is aimed at ensuring universal health insurance to every individual living in J&K. Aaadhar card seeding is one of the priorities of the government and seems, according to the estimates presented by the LG and the various District Development Commissioners (DDCs), to be progressing well.

The LG stressed on the fact that Back to Village is not just a ‘demand and delivery’ scheme but a new model of governance. Various aspects of the same, such as public grievance redressal, Panchayat empowerment and local accountability, will hopefully be regularized and institutionalized. The LG said that the new model of development in the form of B2V has brought governance to the peoples’ doorsteps and the people will decide on their own developmental priorities in which the government will act as a facilitator. The LG has also ordered the DDCs, ADCs, SSPs, DSPs and other senior officers to be present at the Sub-Divisional Headquarters every Wednesday from 10 AM to 4 PM on a rotational basis. He also advised three to four Sub-Divisional Headquarters from every district to be designated as areas of grievance redressal.

According to LG, every village has been provided with sports kits according to preference and most of the playgrounds have been reformed which has led to the development of sports at the lowest administrative level.

The LG has observed that the government in the UT does not lack funds, functions, or functionaries. An excess of Rs. 1951 crore has been provided to J&K, with an excess of Rs. 680 crore being provided for agriculture alone in 2019. The government, however, lags behind in implementation. The LG has promised to change the culture of delays by making those responsible for the delays accountable.  Effective and timely implementation of government schemes and enthusiastic participation from the populace will be enough to set the UT in motion towards viable and sustainable development.

Challenges towards a ‘developed’ future

The steps taken by the UT government so far in connection with the development of J&K and the plans announced by the LG are undoubtedly encouraging. However, there are certain issues that need to be addressed by the government in order to achieve ‘equitable growth’ in the truest sense of the word.

One of the major obstacles that stand in the way of the region’s economic rejuvenation, educational progress, properly functioning health sector, and business revival among others is the continued ban on high-speed internet in the UT. Internet-based business ventures have already shut down, with the employees (as well as most of the employers) having to leave the UT for jobs. This has severely affected women entrepreneurs as they are mostly confined to online businesses. About 4000 women entrepreneurs in the UT have lost their livelihood.

The communication blockade imposed by the government on August 05, 2019, has severely affected the business sector in J&K as most of the businesses were export-based. This and the heightened transportation charges have especially affected horticulture and floriculture sectors, resulting in valuable crops like cherry and strawberry rotting in the fields. The government’s decision to stress on establishing food processing units at the village level is definitely a step in the right direction, but selective relaxation in business imports and exports have to be allowed keeping COVID-related SOP guidelines in mind.

While the decision to promote new rural entrepreneurs through monetary backing and financial handholding is certainly a positive step, those entrepreneurs who have suffered heavily during the continuous internet shutdown and physical lockdown deserve the same level of handholding and assistance, if not more. The entrepreneurial spirit cannot be developed in the UT if those who are struggling to run their businesses are provided firm support.

LG’s plan of limited institutionalization of the Back to Village programme is a commendable step. However, it has to be implemented properly if the benefits are to be reaped. Moreover, a post has to be created to maintain constant communication between the village and the sub-divisional level in order to ensure the effective implementation of this policy. A centrally funded invigilation system, to ensure that the funds devolved to the Panchayats for development are being used properly, is also imperative in order to prevent misappropriation of funds at the ground level.

Regarding the government’s efforts to improve the UT’s sports sector, the government’s claims of having distributed sports kits to all the Panchayat halqas seem questionable. Recently, in a freewheeling conversation with JKPI, Mr. Shoib Ahmed, player, organizer and umpire, said that his village has not received the Rs. 20000 for the purpose. Moreover, if the government’s aim is to draw out talented players from the furthest corners of the UT, the government should focus on organizing more tournaments so that the players in such areas have more opportunities to exhibit their talent. Funds have to be provided directly to the talented players in order to motivate them to continue their sports journey. Local veteran players have to be trained and hired in well-paying jobs as coaches in the number of indoor and outdoor stadia that are being constructed. Also, funds have to be allocated fairly among the various areas of sports in which the region has promise.

The schemes that the LG has proposed are quite encouraging, but the outcome of the previously announced schemes, as seen in the recently released reports of the Comptrollers and Auditor General of India, raises skepticism about them. The CAG reports categorically show non-completion and failure in almost every government scheme previously applied in the region. This has resulted in inequality of development and deplorable effects in the living standards of the general populace, as well as a humongous amount of monetary loss. Be in NRDWP, PMGSY, MGNREGA, the health sector, JKPDD’s power purchase scheme, and so on, the overall picture is one of dissatisfaction (for instance: 36% of the Water Supply Schemes under NRDWP remain to be completed which has adversely affected the lives of 5.67 lakh people. Also, 77% of wage earners employed under MGNREGA have not received their wages within the preferred 15-day gap). This is largely due to financial mismanagement, bureaucratic inertia and a resultant unusual delay in the completion of schemes. This unnecessary delay is something that the LG has rightly pointed out and promised that “…those responsible will be held answerable”, but nevertheless, the government has failed to explain how this administrative apathy can be tackled.

Conclusion

There are many issues in Jammu and Kashmir that continue to escape the government’s attention. However, the strides that the Union Territory government is making to make J&K a developed and industrialized role model of equitable growth is commendable, to say the least. The government does not lack vision. It is the implementation of this vision that will need special and close administrative attention, as the LG has observed. The inhabitants of the valley certainly hope that the UT government will be able to do what successive governments could not and ensure a better standard of living for the people of J&K.