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Muslims are poor in Muslim majority State
Naseer A Ganai
(from greaterkashmir)
Srinagar, Sept 13: In the Muslim majority State of Jammu and Kashmir the incidence of poverty is higher among Muslims and higher number of families below the poverty line is from the Muslim majority districts.
This has been revealed by the BPL survey released by the Directorate of Economics and Statistic few days ago.
In the survey, Ramban, Kishtiwar, Poonch and Reasi districts of Jammu region have been identified as poorest. Ramban, Kishtiwar, Poonch, Kishtiwar have majority Muslim population. In fact 2001 census says the Muslim population of Poonch is 91.92 percent.
In Kashmir division, Kupwara and Bandipora in north Kashmir and Kargil in Leh division have been identified as poorest districts.
At the State level (Rural+Urban) the BPL population comprises 22.68 percent of the total population of the State with distribution of 17.76 percent Muslims, 4.63 percent Hindus, 0.20 percent Buddhists, 0.08 percent Sikhs and 0.01 percent Christians.
The study says that the total BPL population when compared with the corresponding religion-wise population exhibited the dispersion of faith with 24.51 percent in case of Islam, 18.14 percent in Hinduism, 24.50 percent in Buddhism, 7.51 percent and 3.12 in case of Sikhism and Christianity.
On the basis of absolute BPL population and absolute BPL household, the seven poorest districts in the State are Varmul, Kupwara in north Kashmir, Budgam in central Kashmir, Poonch, Rajouri in Jammu and Pulwama in south Kashmir,the study says. It reveals that at the urban level the highest BPL population percentage has been observed in district Kulgam (15.83 percent) followed by district Pulwama (14 percent.)
The study however attributes higher incidence of poverty to the illiteracy. It says, “it is explicit from the analysis of the data that the population Below Poverty Line has more illiterates than the general population in the State and the reason thereof could be multidimensional.” Then the study concludes that there is direct relationship between illiteracy and incidence of poverty.
But the conclusions drawn by the study runs contrary to the findings of the Sachar Committee report which paints an encouraging picture of the educational status of the Valley Muslims.
According to the report, the primary class enrolment of Muslim children exceeded 5.3 lakh last year with the boy-girl ratio a healthy 50.3: 49.7. The number of Muslim male literates has increased by 25 percent and the women by 23 percent over the past two decades, revealed the Sachar Committee findings.
Besides, Kashmir produces more than 16,000 Muslim graduates every year and the number of postgraduates crosses 3,000 annually. The figure for female students pursuing higher education is also encouraging. Of the 57,000 students enrolled in colleges, more than 25,000 are girls.
On the contrary, despite the hullabaloo about the proliferation of Islamic seminaries across the Valley, only 2691 students 950 of them girls are enrolled in the Darul Ulooms.
Courtesy and Copyright of Greater Kashmir [Link]
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Syed Yasir
(from kashmirtimes)
SRINAGAR, Sep 11: The state government has prepared a list of around 500 employees, who according to it had actively participated in the recent pro-freedom protest demonstrations and marches. The government is planning to take action against them.
Reliable sources said that some quarters in the government fear that any action against them may prove counter productive and that is why action is being delayed at the moment. But a strong lobby in the government is insisting on a strong action against them without any delay.
The government has directed district administration to prepare a detailed list of those employees who had actively participated in the recent pro-freedom and anti-India protests in the valley. The list was aimed at taking stern action against the employees and also to prevent them from participating future programmes of the co-ordination committee.
A senior official in the administration said that government has made up its mind to tackle the agitated employees strictly and action against the employees is expected. “The action against these employees might take some time, but the action is sure,” he said.
However, the officials said, government is taking into consideration all its limitation before action is initiated against them, “We don’t want another controversy as the land transfer controversy has not ended completely,” he added.
The state government believed government employees had actively participated in the recent pro-freedom protests and marches. The employees’ joint action committee (EJAC), largest employees union in the state is also a constituent of Kashmir Co-ordination Committee, which is spearheading the ongoing movement and giving programmes of strikes and marches.
The security agencies have prepared a list of vehicle owners whose vehicles were used during the freedom marches and rallies. Action against those vehicle owners is also expected.
Various security agencies have initiated a massive manhunt to arrest the separatist leaders and those people who had participated in the protest marches. The arrested leaders include Aasiya Andrabi, Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, Shabir Ahmad Shah, and Masarat Aalam. A list of low profile separatist leaders was also prepared by the police and other security agencies who according to them played an important role in making the people to assemble in rural areas and making transport available to them at district headquarters. A number of them have already been arrested by the police and placed them under Public Safety Act.
Reports of alleged harassment to people by security forces are pouring in from various areas of the valley after mass participation of the people in pro-freedom marches. The people are accusing authorities of misusing Public Safety Act (PSA) as a deterrent to prevent masses from participating in peaceful pro-freedom marches and rallies. However, the officials here said that only those persons were booked under PSA, who played key role in organising anti-India protests.
Courtesy and Copyright of Kashmir Times. com [link]
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By A. G. Noorani
(from countercurrents)
The accord between the J&K Government and the Shri Amarnathji Yatra Sangharsh Samity (SAYSS) on 31 August 2008 is far worse than the order by the J&K Government only three months earlier on 26 May 2008. It grants the SASS concessions beyond what the order did. It is one-sided and marks an abject surrender to violence, blockade and to communal forces. The differences between the order and accord are glaring. Here is a list
1. The order was made pursuant to a decision on 20 May 2008 by the Cabinet in which Jammu & Kashmir were both represented. The accord ignores completely Kashmir where the land is to be given. Jammu alone was represented. A week earlier there was a clampdown in the Valley and top leaders were arrested.
2. Even the controversial order nowhere used the word “exclusive”. The SAYSS felt so emboldened as to demand it and wreck the deal if it was not conceded. The Government yielded in the early hours of 31 August. Para 6A says that the Government “shall set aside for use by Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board exclusively the land in Baltal and Domail”. This order unknown anywhere in the world is cloaked under a lie by calling it “traditionally under use for the annual yatra purpose”. The traditional route for over a century is the Pahalgam route. The Baltal route is a recent demand. It was regarded by the Army and Nitish Sengupta Report as dangerous. It is also unnecessary if the limit of yatris set by the Report (1 lakh) is observed.
3. This violates the citizen’s fundamental right under Art. 19 (1) D to move freely throughout India. The demand of exclusivity was not made even in May 2008 or in decades earlier. It is pure communal aggression using the yatra for political demonstration not religious piety.
4. The duration of use is widened to cover pre and post yatra period. Para 6 C first says that the land will be used “for the duration of the yatra” including the period of preparations and winding up. But the very next para has these sinister words: “The aforesaid land shall be used according to the Board’s requirements from time to time, including for the following”. There follow 9 measures including construction, setting up of then sheds etc. These can be done even beyond the yatra period “from time to time” and “according to the Board’s requirements”; may be all the year around.
5. Para 8 of the order insisted that the land “shall return” to the State. This is dropped in the accord. This accomplishes S.K. Sinha’s objective– permanent use the year round.
6. Also dropped totally is Para 4 on payment for user.
7. Dropped too is Para 6. An undertaking of “foolproof measures against water pollution and Para 7 on payment of fine for damage to the forest. There is a pious provision in accord Para 6C (ix) among the objectives of land user; namely “undertaking measures relating to … preservation of ecology” etc. Breach entails no fine.
8. The order of 26 May was rescinded on 1 July. The accord will require a fresh order to implement it. By itself the accord has no legal force. Section 2(a) of the J&K Forest (Conservation) Act 1997 says “the Government shall not, except on a resolution of the Council of Ministers based on the advice of the Advisory Committee” constituted under the Act “make any order directing that any forest land or any portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purpose”. The earlier phrase “Council of ministers” merely was revised by an amendment in 2001 and the Forest Advisory Committee’s advice was added and made mandatory. “Council of Ministers” is specific. It is different from “J&K Government” whose powers alone vest now in the Governor. The law intentionally provides the resolution as a safeguard. This Council can come into existence only after the next elections. In any case the Forest Advisory Committees advice on 12 July 2007 cannot apply to this new accord which must be vetted afresh by that Committee. It was given before the Supreme Court’s final judgment in the T M Godavarman case on 23 November 2007 which lays down the law and makes important observations on balancing development with protection of environment. Failure to consider it vitiates the decision. Precise on the based on misrepresentation of opinion of the deputy CM Muzaffar Hussain Beg and advocate General Altaf Naik both of which were given in entirely difference cases.
The accord lacks legal efficacy as well as moral and political legitimacy. Any order in its implementation will be void in law. It is a pity that the State should bend all rules to buy peace with communal forces including promise to consider compensation for law-breakers. What of compensation to the Valley for the blockade? The parivar in Jammu has already begun asking for more. The Government has not bought peace but trouble. It is gunah be lizzat.
If the State can thus bend its knees before the Sangh parivar on an issue like this, what hopes of justice can Kashmiris entertain when it comes to restoring the raped Article 370 to a status of worth and respect?
Courtesy of Counter Currents. com [link]
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Sister asked to show I-card
Arshad Me’raj
(from greaterkashmir.com)
Wagad, (Tral), Mar 11: “Show me your identity card and I will allow you to move forward,” an Army officer asked Parveena Akhter, sister of Majid Jehangir who was killed by troops at Aripal.
Parveena, wailing and weeping, was stopped by the troops at a barricade outside Aripal village. She had come from her husband’s home in Pampore to see the face of her brother for the last time. For an hour the troops did not allow her to enter the village.
Beseeching the Army officer with clasped hands, she said, “I want to see my brother.”
The officer however asked her to show that if she was carrying any identity card. “Don’t you know that it is obligatory to carry an I-Card with yourself in Kashmir,” he told Parveena.
“They have killed my brother and are now denying me to move,” Parveena told the reporters who were waiting near the barricade for army’s permission to enter the village.
On the persistent insistence of the media persons, the officer allowed Parveena and two of her family members to go ahead by foot.
The barricade was crowded with people who couldn’t make it to their homes last night due to the cordon maintained by the troops. “I went to relatives place and spent the night there,” a government employee wishing anonymity told Greater Kashmir adding the troops didn’t allowed to go yesterday.
Many women were seen waiting near the erected barricade and repeatedly urging the troops to allow them to go to their respective homes. “Our children are alone there, please allow us to go,” the women said.
The people waiting for the go ahead expressed apprehensions saying that army might harm their family. “The troops have been harassing us for long and this time they might harm our families,” they said.
Copyright and courtesy of Greater Kashmir. com [link]
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Tags: Freedom Struggle, Human Rights, Indian Army, Innocent Killings, Kashmir, Kilings, News, Police, Terrorism, Terrorism in Kashmir
Govt terminates 18 employees with ‘militant links’
(from kashmirobserver.com)
JAMMU, MARCH 10 (KONS) |The state Cabinet has decided to terminate the services of 18 employees for alleged links with militants.The Cabinet yesterday agreed to the action recommended against the 18 employees by a committee headed by the chief secretary. A senior officer said the action was taken under Section 126 of the J&K Constitution. During the recent Assembly session, Azad had indicated that he may take stern action against such elements.
“The Cabinet, in its meeting, took the decision. Official orders for termination of services will be issued soon,” Health Minister Mangat Ram Sharma told The Indian Express adding that the government would not tolerate any involvement of employees with militants, at any cost.
The government has not yet disclosed the names of the 18 employees, but sources said they include engineers, a doctor and a banker. The decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting which was boycotted by PDP. A committee headed by the chief secretary had submitted its report to the government a few days back. The committee was constituted by the chief minister after inputs from intelligence agencies and state police regarding alleged involvement of some state employees in subversive activities and their alleged links with militants. A PDP minister described the action as “taken in haste”. “It is unfortunate that the decision came at a Cabinet meeting which was not attended by our party. I am not aware of the whole picture. But I think any action taken in haste against employees can bring down the morale of those working under difficult conditions,”he added.
Copyright and courtesy of Greater Kashmir. com [link]
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Tags: Congress, Freedom Struggle, Government, India, Kashmir, News
