Most of the people in our State are aspiring for lasting solution of this killing dispute between the two south asian nuclear powers. Yes, there are people who claim to be nationalists seek independent Kashmir whileas there are others mostly with Islamic ideological background tend to align with Pakistan. It is now for last more than 60 years that the people of Jammu and Kashmir State have been fighting for self-determination using all methods including non-violence and jihad but till date due to adamant nature of Indian Government, erratic leaders and our follies nothing has happened. Many people who oppose independent Kashmir idea other than on religious or security aspects oppose it on the ground that it cannot sustain because of non-availability of resources. Similarly while aligning with Pakistan in a position that we are, will put this country's economy on a more downward trend.
Jammu and Kashmir has mostly an agrarian economy except a few industrial houses in Jammu city. In recent reports published by the state government it appears that growth in Agricultural sector has been stagnant for last so many years even when there is substantial growth in horticulture and related segments. It is implied that this is because of low / stagnant growth in main agriculture sector that is putting the growth of whole Agriculture sector on downward trend. There is no need to be statistician; even a common eye can attest that how brutally the agricultural land particularly under paddy / wheat has been misused for construction of houses and shopping complexes. If we are going to travel from Srinagar on any of the routes whether it is national highway going to Islamabad, Srinagar - Budgam, Srinagar - Char Sharief, Srinagar - Bandipora, Srinagar - Baramulla route etc whichever side we visit, we will see that those fields which were mostly seen golden this time with blooming paddy crop are replaced by houses, shops, business establishments etc. Similar situation can be seen when we travel on inter district routes. I have learnt from my mother that a time was there when scented rice called mushke budug in local parlance was cooked in marriage parties and normally in well to do families, is almost obsolete now, a time seems to come when the kashmiri species of rice will find their way in red book. Despite laws there providing for non utilization of agricultural land for other purposes no one is bothered to think.
Let us move to other side i.e. livestock like buffaloes, cows, goats, sheep etc. Buffalo nowadays can only be seen in some areas of Jammu, in Kashmir Buffalo seems to be non-existent. In most of the villages, families have abandoned raring cows, sheep, goats etc. Most of the villages which used to be self-sufficient in milk and its related products are now purchasing milk from milk vendors who mostly manufacture it from the milk powder procured from outside state. May God wish the figures of Pulwama district given by the government be true, but what is seen in villages doesn’t match with the figures.
I still remember in young old days we used to have reddish white shelled kashmiri eggs but now you cannot find a single egg not to speak of beautiful kashir kukar (kashmiri hen).
There has been good progress in the horticulture and vegetables sector but mostly at the cost of paddy land. However, everything is not good in these sectors too, there are no cold storage facilities available which doesn’t allow the growers to store the fruit for longer time so that they could be sold at a better rate. Further lot of wastage takes place besides there is no proper system of grading and packing which fetches 1/3rd or even lower the price it could fetch in the market. Vegetables too mostly rot because of non-availability of cold storage facilities. Leaving aside the Government figures, at ground the production of nuts and almonds is also seen to be dwindling.
Successive governments are believed to be responsible for this destruction of our strong agricultural economy but as most of the governments are rootless and mostly installed ones therefore it is natural that they will not have the necessary will. However, we people seem to be more responsible for this mayhem which has brought this sector to the position that it is said if Jawahar tunnel is closed the whole Valley will come to halt and people will die of hunger. We are responsible for the misuse of agricultural land, idleness, fraudy showbiz etc. We need to act more responsibly. The people in our villages and outskirts of cities and towns need to understand that coming under service sector alone cannot help us alone. Even in developed countries which are not only industrialized but also digitized such things never happen because even then human need food to live on. US is believed to be the biggest producers of potato, wheat etc. Australian economy depends to the big extent on its sheep. Similarly, Denmark for its food particularly diary products. Villagers should revert back to farming so that there is enough food available with them so that they had not to procure from outside. City people even can cultivate vegetables and rear poultry as they used to. There is no fun of keeping lawns wasting thousands of kanals of land sparing not a few marlas for kitchen garden, the trend which has now catched on in villages also. Our Agriculture, Animal and Sheep husbandry etc experts should come out to help the people in this endeavor. Our officials at the helm of affairs need to prevent misusing the agricultural land for other purposes. This sector needs our hardwork and will and doesnot need so much of investment as is needed for tapping our other resources like water resources, mineral etc. This acts of ours will help us in long way in our nation building and will make us self reliant.
We need to act and understand that great nations come into formation with the people who have will and power of nation building besides other virtues otherwise our aspiration of nation building and freedom will be just a mirage.
Jammu and Kashmir has mostly an agrarian economy except a few industrial houses in Jammu city. In recent reports published by the state government it appears that growth in Agricultural sector has been stagnant for last so many years even when there is substantial growth in horticulture and related segments. It is implied that this is because of low / stagnant growth in main agriculture sector that is putting the growth of whole Agriculture sector on downward trend. There is no need to be statistician; even a common eye can attest that how brutally the agricultural land particularly under paddy / wheat has been misused for construction of houses and shopping complexes. If we are going to travel from Srinagar on any of the routes whether it is national highway going to Islamabad, Srinagar - Budgam, Srinagar - Char Sharief, Srinagar - Bandipora, Srinagar - Baramulla route etc whichever side we visit, we will see that those fields which were mostly seen golden this time with blooming paddy crop are replaced by houses, shops, business establishments etc. Similar situation can be seen when we travel on inter district routes. I have learnt from my mother that a time was there when scented rice called mushke budug in local parlance was cooked in marriage parties and normally in well to do families, is almost obsolete now, a time seems to come when the kashmiri species of rice will find their way in red book. Despite laws there providing for non utilization of agricultural land for other purposes no one is bothered to think.
Let us move to other side i.e. livestock like buffaloes, cows, goats, sheep etc. Buffalo nowadays can only be seen in some areas of Jammu, in Kashmir Buffalo seems to be non-existent. In most of the villages, families have abandoned raring cows, sheep, goats etc. Most of the villages which used to be self-sufficient in milk and its related products are now purchasing milk from milk vendors who mostly manufacture it from the milk powder procured from outside state. May God wish the figures of Pulwama district given by the government be true, but what is seen in villages doesn’t match with the figures.
I still remember in young old days we used to have reddish white shelled kashmiri eggs but now you cannot find a single egg not to speak of beautiful kashir kukar (kashmiri hen).
There has been good progress in the horticulture and vegetables sector but mostly at the cost of paddy land. However, everything is not good in these sectors too, there are no cold storage facilities available which doesn’t allow the growers to store the fruit for longer time so that they could be sold at a better rate. Further lot of wastage takes place besides there is no proper system of grading and packing which fetches 1/3rd or even lower the price it could fetch in the market. Vegetables too mostly rot because of non-availability of cold storage facilities. Leaving aside the Government figures, at ground the production of nuts and almonds is also seen to be dwindling.
Successive governments are believed to be responsible for this destruction of our strong agricultural economy but as most of the governments are rootless and mostly installed ones therefore it is natural that they will not have the necessary will. However, we people seem to be more responsible for this mayhem which has brought this sector to the position that it is said if Jawahar tunnel is closed the whole Valley will come to halt and people will die of hunger. We are responsible for the misuse of agricultural land, idleness, fraudy showbiz etc. We need to act more responsibly. The people in our villages and outskirts of cities and towns need to understand that coming under service sector alone cannot help us alone. Even in developed countries which are not only industrialized but also digitized such things never happen because even then human need food to live on. US is believed to be the biggest producers of potato, wheat etc. Australian economy depends to the big extent on its sheep. Similarly, Denmark for its food particularly diary products. Villagers should revert back to farming so that there is enough food available with them so that they had not to procure from outside. City people even can cultivate vegetables and rear poultry as they used to. There is no fun of keeping lawns wasting thousands of kanals of land sparing not a few marlas for kitchen garden, the trend which has now catched on in villages also. Our Agriculture, Animal and Sheep husbandry etc experts should come out to help the people in this endeavor. Our officials at the helm of affairs need to prevent misusing the agricultural land for other purposes. This sector needs our hardwork and will and doesnot need so much of investment as is needed for tapping our other resources like water resources, mineral etc. This acts of ours will help us in long way in our nation building and will make us self reliant.
We need to act and understand that great nations come into formation with the people who have will and power of nation building besides other virtues otherwise our aspiration of nation building and freedom will be just a mirage.
