Why development takes a back seat in J&K?

Shivang Satya Gupta

Jammu, April 09: Jammu and Kashmir is a highly underdeveloped state in India partly due to rampant corruption prevalent in the official machinery and partly due to the onslaught of terror in the state but the major credit goes to the fact that everything here is politicized which in turn results in development taking a back seat.

The lawmakers, social groups, separatists and the mainstream politicians are busy in political rhetoric according to their own interests and political benefits hardly finding time to devote their attention for the development of the state.

In Legislature most of the time is wasted in uproar, walkouts, allegations, counter allegations and political debates which hardly have anything to do with the development on the ground and the government on its part also consumes most of the time of the legislature explaining their position and satisfying the angry opposition.

Analyzing the current session of the Legislature one wonders how many times legislators staged walkout on real developmental issues rather than political rhetoric.

People who toil hard during the elections to elect their representatives to take-up their genuine issues in the Assembly and with the government feel saddened when they see their representatives wasting their time on superficial issues like separatist comments, politicians’ remarks and political differences where opposition opposes for the sake of opposition not for the overall good of the state.

However there is always a silver lining and that silver lining is seen through some very sincere and hardworking legislators who do their homework well and force the government to listen and take note for their public grievances and other issues which directly impact the common people on the street.

There are always people who get elected to represent their people in real sense and there are a number of such people in ruling as well as opposition parties but the fact is that their number is less where as one only expects that the assembly and council sessions are used for real official work rather than political rhetoric and opposition.

The common man who has been ruing the fact that despite more than six decades of independence people are still devoid of basic facilities like road connectivity, electricity, communication facilities, educational facilities, bridge connectivity, good healthcare and a working administration continue to be in the waiting hall expecting someday someone will actually work for them to take them out of the miseries and respect their vote.

A grim reminder of how the precious time of the legislature gets wasted is a recent incident when educational grants were being discussed in the Assembly and the concerned minister had made a special provision for younger generation to witness how their future is being shaped.

But alas what the students witnessed was something that made the minister so emotional that he had to try hard to hide his tears and regretting why he invited the students to witness the Assembly proceedings.

The legislators didn’t allow the House to function and punches were freely hurled at each other injuring a legislator in front of the students who were witnessing how their future was being shaped.

However at the same time there are some legislators who have also won accolades for their homework and concern for the people and this time it was the young MLA from Ramnagar Ranbir Singh Pathania who got a rare praise in his first session as MLA by none other than the veteran parliamentarian MY Tarigami.

Tarigami said that he was glad to see this young MLA keeping the government on toes not for politics but for the genuine concerns of the society. It was on his initiative that separatist elements were exposed and people came to know that government spends a whopping Rs 10 cr per month on the security of those who fight against this country.

The crux of the debate is that instead of repeating the same old rhetoric of regional discrimination people must keep their representatives on toes and ask them how many times they have forced the government to take note of the problems of the common man instead of staging walkouts on the comments of a Yasin Malik or a Geelani.

One would only love to see more of such young and enthusiastic legislators who have the potential to change the way politics is done in J&K and keep development on the front seat and make the state a model state for others.

People want development and politics should be over once the elections are over and for next six years it should be the development that must be the priority of both ruling as well as opposition parties so that the real purpose of democracy is served.

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