Spring in autumn?

The people of JK have long wanted to tell the nation a few home truths but they were not heard for the most part. They have, therefore, cho...

The people of J038;K have long wanted to tell the nation a few home truths but they were not heard for the most part. They have, therefore, chosen the recently-concluded elections in the state to speak out and at least this time the nation, and more specifically those preparing to put forward their claims to form the next government in the state, must listen and respond.

If this chance is missed, the nation would have lost one more precious opportunity to help set things right in the beleaguered region. Because if there is one message that emerges from the verdict of these polls it is that people want azaadi, but most of all azaadi from a non-governing government, from an indifferent administration, from unimplemented planning and from a system that is so corrupt that it has no credibility.

So busy have we been in claiming J038;K as an inalienable part of the country that we have done little about ending the alienation of its people, an aspect that Pakistan has exploited to the hilt. The search for autonomy and identity is certainly one significant reason for this alienation and handling it is a complex business that will take time.

But the alienation has also arisen out of decades of indifferent and cynical political practice and this we can and should address. Even going by the scanty data we have of this region, it is clear that J038;K is by no means a 8216;backward8217; state. It has a high level of literacy, is comparatively less poor than the rest of India 8212; 25 per cent of the population live below the poverty line here as compared to the all-India figure of 36 per cent according to one estimate 8212; and the people are generally healthier with an infant mortality rate of 45 as compared to the all-India level of 72.

But then just refer to the figures on the gross industrial output or the daily factory employment and they tell another story entirely. Here, even a state like Himachal Pradesh does much better. While the latter has 1,175 daily factory employees per 100,000, J038;K has a pathetic 300. Incidentally, joblessness among the youth has been cited as a significant factor in driving them into militancy.

The one thing J038;K has been pampered with are promises. Yet the fact that many of these pledges have failed to translate into reality has only fed popular disenchantment. The 290-km rail line from Udhampur to Baramulla, which a succession of prime ministers have promised the state, is barely chugging along. Large areas of the state are trapped in their own isolation, all the more so when the snows set in and render the few roads that exist unmotorable.

There are, too, other issues as well 8212; as for instance ensuring the safe return and rehabilitation of the Kashmiri Pandits. The new government in J038;K has its work cut out if it rises to the challenge of these poll results. It will have to ensure that even in autumn, there can be spring 8212; and hope.