J&K needs Balanced, Equitable Development
By Nawang Rigzin Jora
Monday, September 18, 2006

The relevance of ‘Development’ as an instrument of change particularly to build on peace dividends is widely recognized. I am reminded of one of the speeches made by Mr. Kofi Annan in UN General Assembly in which he observed that ‘insurgency’ is not specific or directly related to any religion or region but is an outcome or a manifestation of ‘Development’ or ‘Governance’ deficit. Long years of misery and devastation in the State only vindicate such an assertion. The gaps in development, particularly the performance-potential gaps, therefore, need to be addressed sooner than later. It is my firm belief that only ‘inclusive’, ‘participatory’ and ‘equitable’ models of development can ensure sustainability of any change effort. A balanced regional and sub-regional development will restore the faith of people, particularly living in remote and backward areas. Logically, therefore, development is an important component of our Good Governance agenda. After all, as Mahatama Gandhi quite often used to say, Swaraj (self-rule) essentially means Suraj (Good Governance). The coalition Government in the State is fully committed to the Good Governance agenda to usher in an era of prosperity or Kushali.

Any vision of development, therefore, has to ensure balanced and equitable development of all the three regions of the State as well as equitable and balanced development areas within the regions to fulfill the aspirations of diverse sections of the State. Our vision and strategy, therefore, have to be built on five major pillars:-

a) Region-specific drivers of economic growth so as to ensure a sustainable and healthy growth of say 10% at least over the next decade.

b) Equal ‘access’ to basic amenities and equal ‘opportunities’ of growth for people living in all the three regions of the State as well as all the areas within a region. Indeed, I am referring to the ‘distributive’ dimension of growth and; about a logical and rational system of resource transfer to regions within the State as well as areas within the regions.

c) Ensuring that the growth is not jobless and, therefore, joyless; and creates opportunities of self-employment in rural and backward areas; particularly in ‘niche’ sectors where the State has core competencies as well as based on resource of a particular area.

d) Connectivity - physical, economic and electronic - of all areas so as to fully leverage regional strengths and integrate regional aspirations with the development process in the State.

e) Enhancing resource flow for social infrastructure; particularly in health and education.

The State comprises three distinct geographical, cultural and climatic regions - the cold desert and arctic region of Ladakh, the temperate environs of Kashmir Valley and the sub-tropical and kandi areas of Jammu. Each division has different strengths, weaknesses and challenges. And; therefore, there cannot be uniform responses to diverse development challenges. What holds good for Jammu, may not be relevant for Kashmir valley, what may be relevant for Kashmir valley may not hold good for Ladakh and vice-versa. The design and implementation modalities of development schemes, therefore, have to be specific to each of the regions and areas within a region that have different growth potential. This is the fundamental change that our planning process should undergo to ensure that development processes become largely public-driven and specific to needs, capacities and circumstances of the people concerned. It is my firm belief that solutions to developmental challenges lie with people themselves and what needs to be done is to help people help themselves by bringing them together to workout home-grown solutions to local problems. There is a mind-set issue here!

As per provisional results of Fifth Economic Census conducted by Central Statistical Organization (CSO) in 2005, J&K has a total of 3.23 lac enterprises employing around 7.5 lac workers. According to the CSO estimate, J&K has a remarkable distinction of forming 6.82 percent annual average growth rate in total employment; and topping the list. It is also encouraging to note that rate of growth of enterprises (1998-2005) is 5.99 percent as against All India figure of 4.80 percent Yet there are a few features that need to be appropriately considered:

a. The total number of enterprises in J&K contribute less than 1 percent (0.77 percent to be precise) to the total number of enterprises in the country, with just five States (Andra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Utter Pradesh and West Bangal) contributing 50 percent.

b. Within the State, total number of enterprises employing 10 workers or more is 1.8 percent of the total enterprises.

c. Of these 55 percent are located in urban areas while 45 percent are located in rural areas.

d. Of the total enterprises, 53 percent are concentrated in just four districts i.e. Jammu, Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla districts, leaving the remaining 2% in other urban areas!

e.98 percent of enterprises are engaged in non-agriculture activities. Those which are accounted for by the agriculture sector relate to actuals other than crop production and plantation.

The core areas for employment generation in J&K are already identified. Tourism, horticulture, handicrafts, power and IT could be the drivers of economic reconstruction and rejuvenation. So far as tourism is concerned, our products are well known. But efforts need to be made to put J&K back on the confidence map of the country. Jammu province receives pilgrim tourists numbering 65 lac a year and the strategy has to increase the duration of their stay by engaging them with new tourist destinations and experiences. Creation of Tourism Development Authorities and exploitation of tourism potential of areas such as Bani Basholi, Bhaderwah, Rajouri and Poonch can provide the answers. Similarly, Ladakh region is endowed with awesome mountain peaks that offer unique potential for adventure tourism both international as well as domestic. So, the Ladakh region needs to be marketed as an adventure tourism and cultural tourism destination. The glorious heights of Siachin glacier can be converted into a Science or an Ahimsa Park and can be thrown open to tourists for climbing expeditions from all over the world. In this regard, Pakistan has certain example for us where the mighty peaks of the Karakorum ranges including the once in Siachin glacier are open for international climbing expeditions. Our policy of joint expedition insisting on equal number of participants from our country proves restrictive and deters large number of international expeditions from coming to Ladakh. Lakakh can provide the easiest and the most convenient alternative route to Kailash Mansorovar Yatra. If pilgrims are allowed to undertake yatra from Ladakh as well, it will do to Ladakh’s economy what Vaishno Devi has done to Jammu’s economy. Similarly, Ladakh has tremendous potential for white water rafting. The mighty Indus and the Zanskar River offers white waters challenges the like of which cannot be found anywhere else in the country.

Horticulture has tremendous employment generation potential that can be unlocked through the processing and value addition route particularly in the decentralized sector. Cold chains, extended buyer-seller networks and modern technologies of packaging and branding can enhance the market potential of our fruit in an unimaginative manner. The idea should be to increase sale of fruits from the existing level of 2000 crore to 12,000 crore over the next decade. Similarly, vegetable production can be increased to a level of 3000 crore in a mission mode. Floriculture is an area, which is largely untapped and commercial cultivation of flowers - the Bulgarian Rose, Lavender and cut flowers - has enormous scope. From the regional perspective, Lakakh has tremendous potential for organic farming given its tradition of subsistence farming; it can provide ideal conditions for seed production on a large scale. While processing of fruits like “seebuck thorn” and conversion of such fruits into juice ala “Leh Berry” can provide employment opportunities to thousands of Ladakhi youth, drying and packing of Apricot can bring in prosperity to many horticulturist households. The innovative pashmina processing facility with UNDP assistance has been set up in Ladakh and provides a ‘demonstrable’ example of how value addition at the peoples’ level can logically transform the quality of their life. Processing of fruit can also be undertaken at commercial scale in Jammu province.
Our handicrafts, which reflect the inherent abilities of our craftsmen, must keep pace with changing times. Design-technology interventions are necessary to contemporarise the traditional strengths of our craftsmen to make our products market savy and demand-driven.

The State has a hydel potential of 20,000 MW. At present we have been able to harness just over a 1000 MW of the available potential. Regions like Ladakh can be major gainer of a pragmatic policy for exploitation of natural resources. The current system of paying the State for hydel resources i.e. 12.5 percent free power at a fixed price is no longer relevant for States like J&K. When the Central Government invests, the State Government foregoes all its uses over the exploitation of its own hydel resources forever. From the economic point of view, the existing payment method is not satisfactory because it does not reflect the value of resources rented out. A more scientific approach could be to work on the “rent-a-resource” concept. Such a dispensation could give significant impetus to better exploitation of water resources in States.

The IT and BPO industry in India has plans to create 9 million jobs by the year 2020. The State like J&K can certainly capture around 25,000 direct and 25,000 indirect opportunities by year 2010. An ambitious programme of training at least 8,000 eligible students each year to empower them with IT skill needs to be carried out. Rightful share must go to the far-flung and backward areas like Doda, Leh and Kargil.

The major development challenge today is that of augmenting and guiding public and private investments in social infrastructure. It is not sufficient, and perhaps incorrect, to look at poverty from an income perspective. To my mind, poverty is not about incomes - it is about “entitlements” and “access”. Upgradation of human resource is an important pre-requisite to ensure access to basic facilities. Public investment should, therefore, be stepped up in health and education. In a State like J&K female literacy is 43 percent as against 66 percent male literacy. The district-wise distribution of literacy phenomena is highly skewed in favour of urban centres and reflects a position of ‘exclusion’ and ‘marginalization’ in respect of those living in far-flung and backward areas of Doda, and Ladakh.

Building further on my argument of access and entitlements, I must say about a possible framework relating to resource transfer and flow of funds between regions within the State. The decided formula should be a mix of three indices - the human development index, the infrastructure index and the quality of life index. In some of the reports on regional imbalance in J&K, suggestions have been made for working out a formula based on possible eight indicators which could include area, population, road coverage, share in government jobs, entry in technical institutions, female literacy and mortality. I trust and hope that the State Finance Commission (SFC) being constituted by the State Government will give adequate attention to this aspect. Apart for mapping gaps and deficits, SFC must think of ways and means of correcting the imbalance and give out strong signals about a more inclusive, rational and equitable framework governing a brighter future for those living in difficult, far-flung and backward areas of the State. This will be true democracy and an authentic effort in radically transforming this beautiful State.