Real Estate Summit agenda for J&K

By K N Pandita

After bringing in the J&K Reorganization Act 2019, the opposition blamed the government for being too hasty and not offering anything substantial to J&K under the changed dispensation. This was also the refrain of the dissident valley leadership.

Committed critics are quick to find fault with any new and progressive initiative of the Union government. But if asked what explicit projects they undertook during their decades-long stint in power, they draw a blank. The problem is that the valley leadership has not learnt the fundamentals of promoting secular democratic dispensation; it is obsessed with sub-nationalism.

For the first time in the history of J&K, the UT administration called a high-level real estate summit in Jammu in which, apart from top central and UT leadership and senior bureaucrats, at least three top Real Estate investors were present. A comprehensive agenda encompassing numerous areas of expanded housing development with relevant auxiliaries were announced to be under active consideration of the government. The focus is on urban as well as rural development of the State in a rational manner so as to bring quality and grace to life.

The meeting was presided over by Lt Gov Sinha who outlined the comprehensive plan of the government for addressing chronic debilities haunting the people for years at end. In particular, the Summit concentrated on ways and means of removing unemployment among the youth by equipping them with skills helpful in self-employment options. The concept is to engage the youth in creative activity where their skills and intelligence both would receive due to recognition.

According to knowledgeable sources, the first Jammu and Kashmir Real Estate Summit on 21 Dec saw 39 MoU signed at the Summit of which 19 dealt with the construction of residential homes worth Rs 18,300 crores, commercial 8, hospitality 4, infrastructure and film and entertainment 3 each and finance 2.

According to a recent Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) unemployment survey, J&K’s unemployment rate is over 21 percent. The all-India average is 7.8 percent. The contemplated schemes envisage skilled and unskilled employment on a large scale.

These documents were signed and exchanged between the top real estate investors of the country and two Union Ministers – Hardeep Singh Puri, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the PMO. The investment is bound to create employment for a large number of skilled and unskilled workers. Government’s plan is to encourage people from across the country to buy land, or a second home, in Jammu and Kashmir to establish industries and business and other productive enterprises. Calling it a historical transformation in J&K, the government said it had changed laws to allow external investment in J&K including the purchase of non-agricultural land. The changing of the laws was a necessity if J&K was to be pulled out of economic stagnation development deficit. Last week the J&K administration, headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, changed land use laws and allowed re-classifying agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The decision triggered strong criticism from regional parties, who said the land would be used to settle non-locals. But emphasizing the initiative, the Union Housing Minster said that real estate was the second-largest employment generator in the country and it has a multiplier effect on the overall economy.

By “historical transformation” one can infer that many more auxiliaries of development will come under focus as the work on the projects progresses. For example, the Union Minister for Housing highlighted that Metro projects will soon be a reality as “these were in the final stage of PIB approval, » He added that the Centre had reacted favourably to the suggestion of the local MP, Jugal Kishore Sharma that the metro project was extended to the proposed AIIMS hospital at Vijaypur falling in Samba district.

The pessimists have floated the rumours that the proposed investments in J&K would lead to unemployment. What can one say of this perverted logic? Investment is for industrialization and modernization. Industrialization is an antidote to unemployment. Europe achieved great heights of prosperity and material strength after it passed through industrial revolution of AD 1688.

The question is that the messengers of doom and frustration even look at these meticulously planned developmental programmes of far-reaching consequences for the social and economic life of the people of the Union Territory with suspicion and pessimism. Opposition parties have urged the government to focus on the creation of jobs for the unemployed and not to run after « bombastic » schemes of development. This is cheap and vote bank politics. These are the words of those who when in power repeatedly said that the government does not have the resources to provide jobs to all the unemployed youth. Why do they use double standards? Is this service to the people of the State to keep them disconnected from the source of employment?

It is an indication of a diseased mindset. A mindset that easily succumbs to the ideology of violence and separatism cannot think in the direction of self-reliance and self-dependence. In the history of J&K, never has such a comprehensive and all-embracing agenda of development been either contemplated or floated. A disinterested study of this and other plans will reveal that a glorious future awaits Jammu and Kashmir provided the people are receptive and thankful.

Apart from the investment narrative of the Real Estate Summit described above, the Defence Ministry has its developmental programmes for Jammu and Kashmir. In a press conference, attended by senior military officers, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that he had accorded , to about 24 new projects in J&K which included 9 new bridges and roads for J&K region. The Apollo organization has announced it would set up a 25-bed hospital in Jammu.

This clearly shows that prominent Islamic countries, such as the Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirat, Indonesia, Iraq and Syria etc. consider Kashmir a dead issue in which they have no more any interest. The OIC is fast losing its ground on Pakistan’s clamour for Kashmir.

These measures further indicate that Kashmir has left behind the era of backwardness, deprivation and isolation. Here the vast vistas of trade and business, employment and engagement are opening up. The times have gone when the leaders with self-aggrandizement used to mislead the innocent masses by raking up false and fabricated stories, suspicions and canards. The Gupkar Gang, tenaciously holding on to the meaningless slogan of the revival of Article 370/35-A, revival of the State and restoration of the old order has been only daydreaming. They live in the middle ages far from the real and dynamic world. Kashmir is changing fast and in every aspect of life. It cannot remain an entity closed to the rest of the people of the country. The false and fabricated notions like Kashmiriyat, special status, exclusivist outlook and sub-regionalism, all have vanished in the thin air. The free flow of men, materials and ideas between Kashmir and the rest of India is the key to Kashmir’s prosperity.

And finally, Kashmiri youth should look towards Saudi Arabia and the UAE to obtain inspiration from their example of how to carry themselves in a world where Islam is undergoing drastic changes. They have to decide whether they want to keep pace with modernism, democracy, freedom and inclusiveness or they want to remain glued to conservatism, exclusiveness and radicalism. This is an inherent struggle in the ummah at present and the decision is in their hands.