Brig Anil Gupta
The government jobs are limited and hence cannot satisfy the aspirations of the unemployed youth of the State. There is a need to create jobs. As per an estimate there are about six lakh unemployed youth in the State and it tops in unemployment rate among the North Indian states. Suffice to deduce that other sources of employment generation need to be tapped. While industry is a known source of employment generation, jobs are also created as a by- product of infrastructure development. All these are capital intensive and require huge investments. Why have we failed to attract investment?
Many would blame prevailing security environment, poor governance and rampant corruption for the same. While these may be contributory factors but are not solely responsible. Let us accept the fact that we lack in-house resources both capital and talent. The rules will have to be relaxed to provide incentives for outside investors and professionals to attract them to the State. To promote investment in industrial, health and educational sectors land on long term lease will have to be provided to the non-residents. Need of the hour is to make progressive laws and not introduce bills which are regressive in nature. SRO 105 and Bills like Amendment to Transfer of Property Act and Amendment to Alienation of Land Act are simply regressive and need to be withdrawn if we want investment in our state. I appeal fervently to the political leadership of the State to face the reality and be more open and practical for the holistic development of the State. The youth today is disillusioned and angry, it wants end to their woes. If we do not act fast and quick, the consequences may be unimaginable. The need is to talk to the youth and convince them of the State’s sincerity in ensuring a bright future for them and strike a severe blow to the nefarious design of Pakistani deep state which is trying to alienate our youth.
I also have advice for those clamouring for ‘Azadi’. My simple question to them is from whom they want ‘Azadi’ because the freedom they enjoy today cannot be guaranteed anywhere else. Just have a look at the plight of citizens of so-called ‘Azad Kashmir’, it is Azad of Kashmiris because Pakistan subjugated them so badly that either they fled to other countries or they returned to our side of the line of control. Commenting on the miserable life of people of Gilgit- Baltistan, Nazir Ahmed, a local lawyer said in an interview to Al Jazzeera, “The problem is in the system- it’s a colonial system. The laws come from Islamabad and we have to live under them.” They enjoy no rights, lack basic medical and educational facilities and are booted by the military. You need to pray for their Azadi. Do not get carried away by false propaganda because grass on the other side always looks greener. Are our sisters in Kashmir ready to lead the life their counterparts lived in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule? Does Azadi mean ‘Talibanisation’? Is the Azadi being asked for to kill your fellow Kashmiris who refuse to listen to the illegitimate diktats of the self – proclaimed saviours of faith? An anguished Kashmiri girl wrote on the Facebook, “A Kashmiri has lost all his etiquettes, a 10-14 year old will beat up a 60-70 year old ruthlessly and won’t flinch….Yes they will burn girls if they are well dressed…yes they will make it a pain for girls and women to walk on the roads…This is not the Kashmir I had dreamt of.. This is not the Kashmir I want to be free…This is not the Kashmir I feel safe in.. This is not the Azadi I ask for!!!”
My brothers and sisters you need Azadi from poverty, from radicalisation and from the evil Pakistani deep state has cast on you. Think of the thousands of Kashmiri boys and girls who are pursuing higher education in various colleges and universities across India under Prime Minister Special Scholarship Scheme for J and K. What will happen to their ambition of a bright future in the hope of which they have ventured far away from their homes? All hopes and dreams of their poor parents will be dashed to the ground. Do not be misled by the Pakistani stooges……Pakistan wants Kashmir but not the Kashmiris. India will never let that happen because the Indian milieu is incomplete without our Kashmiri brethren.
(Concluded)
(The author is a Jammu-based political commentator, columnist, strategic and security analyst.)