Where Are We Heading?

By Dr. Shahid Amin

Where we are heading towards, is a great concern now. Every day is a Hartal day and it becomes a dark day for many families in Kashmir. But there are many who have win win out of those Bandhs and Hartals in the suffering valley. It’s mostly our poor families who have to face the wrath. They earn their bread and butter on a day to day basis and it seems this world will not let them live in a peace. When there is Hartal as an order of the day, managing life for a poor man is like managing a hell. I have found people mostly fed up now with those regular strikes. Those Hartals have now kept us in a dark and our thoughts and actions have been blocked. Let’s think something different for our demands now and give a solid break to call for a strike.

The future of our children is now more unsafe and unsecured. Any society will prosper better when only its children are given proper treatments to grow and a safer and secure environment. But we have the children of conflict who are at the receiving end. No one seems to be really caring for those lovely and promising children in our valley. Our students are pursuing their studies with greater difficulties. But the system is corrupt when we don’t have better infrastructure and proper policies in place. We live in an Internet age and the country is claiming to be ready for its 5G revolution. But we are deprived of good internet services in the valley. When it comes to our valley, every ‘G’ is missing and the tardiness of internet makes people suffer. The bad internet service is giving more troubles to the businesses and the students. Now we have online filling of application forms as a requirement for many jobs and our valley students can’t apply on time. It aggravates the unemployment rates further and shatters dreams of many deserving candidates.

Our administration always poses a bad look when it comes to justify with their concerned services. Whenever there is testing time for them, they are totally a fuss. During my three months long recent stay in the valley, most part of the valley was kept under darkness. It is really surprising to see outside states with availabilityof 24 hours daily/7days electricity. But the valley as a good producer of energy having maximum 4hour daily/7days access to power. We have no rights to use our own power but there is no leniency in our electricity bills and infact the rates have taken a big hike. Due to global climatic changes, snow fall is now rare in the valley. But when God became kind, it exposed many….The early snow fall revealed lack of preparations in the valley. Neither we were prepared nor do we try to learn to be proactive for any kind of weather vagaries. The corrupted system have made us to badly suffer. The height of the tragedy is that recently our blossoming children suffered badly in exams. When board exams were announced the timings were too harsh and unrealistic for our students.Some of the exam centers used candle lights and some centers took shelter in a mosque due to poor arrangements. Our schools don’t have proper arrangements.

It is the people who form a good society. But our lax approach being a part of the society has turned this state into more gloom. Our labors, businesses and employees have become too casual in their approach…We have lost our strength and high spirit. Now everyone means business and self-centricapproach is prevailing at its peak. Our Kashmir has lost almost all good trades and there are better alternatives available. Now we prefer outside workforce for every work and there are reasons for analysis and high introspection.

Our state has always been very unfortunate to be dogged by destructive politics. Our administrators have a vision for our Kashmir in terms of opening of new cinemas and thus improve our economy. But they don’t seem to have an eye on the essentials of a common man. Cinema is a luxury which is hardly required in the valley and infact everyone carries a mini cinema in his pocket. The basic amenities are missing in the valley and a common man is at the suffering end. On one day big scams are being exposed and the next day they turn into strong forces of development.

Ah! It seems that it is one’s honesty that gets defeated in the end…Yes my words rightly quote brave traffic officer IPS Basanth Rath’s transfer, that was a suspicious one. The transfer of an officer is never a good move. The great officer was in command of huge respect and fan following for his selfless and honest services. While travelling in a passenger vehicle people were murmuring “honesty has lost its sheen now” and there is bad politics behind his transfer……Just asking “If we are really fighting for any injustice in our valley why we have not shown a strong resentment against this transfer to teach a lesson to the dishonest ones”.

There is no good policy making in our valley…Our policy makers act as clueless..I have found our contractual teachers suffering. They are suffering just because they have accepted their fate some day when they were selected on merit basis. There are employees with same job descriptions. But some get access to every luxury in life while the others working under schemes receive peanuts.The height is that the contractual teachers were informed on one day that from next day they don’t need to come again to school and their contract is over now…The teachers who were employed on one day turned unemployed the very next day. It was like a life for them met with a sudden death. With such a gloomy picture and misery all around, there is only a hope left for our valley now. Let’s pray for a better, safer and progressive Kashmir.

(The author, a regular contributor to this newspaper is Assistant Professor, ITM University Gwalior. He can be reached at: [email protected])