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| Issues which deserve immediate consideration | | Conciliating Jammu | | Rustam
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 12: It is an established fact that the people of Jammu province have never got what they legitimately deserved as part and parcel of the state polity during all these 67 years of the state's accession to India. All the commissions which were appointed from time to time or all the committee which were set up from time to time to look into the complaints of the people of Jammu province candidly acknowledged that they were not treated fairly by the powers-that-be and that the authorities should undertake steps calculated to mitigate their hardships and redress their grievances.
The people of Jammu province have several grievances. They have little say in the governance of the state. Their share in the vital service sector is far less as compared with the share of Kashmir. Jammu has little or no representation in the civil secretariat, the seat of the government. The tourism, industrial, revenue, agricultural, educational policies of the state government are Valley-centric. With the result, the people of Jammu province have suffered and suffered immensely. The employment policy too is Valley-centric and it can be seen from the fact that the unemployment rate in Jammu province as more than 69 per cent, as against less than 30 per cent in Kashmir. Indeed, the complaints of the people Jammu province, which also houses almost two million refugees, are many and the people of the province are seething with anger.
However, the issues which need to be addressed immediately and on a priority basis are three. One is the demand in Jammu for the appointment of a delimitation commission or delimitation of the assembly constituencies de novo. Jammu province, which has land area two time that of Kashmir and houses almost half of the state's population, has only 37 assembly constituencies. Contrarily, Kashmir returns 46 members to the assembly. The people of Jammu province believe, and rightly, that their socio-economic and political lot would not improve unless they get proper representation in the assembly. The other is the demand in Jammu for the creation of some definite political instrument that is invested with administrative and financial powers. This instrument could be an empowered regional council or empowered provincial council. The demand is genuine and it, if fulfilled, would end inter-regional bitterness. The third issue is problem of the refugees from West Pakistan. Their number is very small and their life is miserable. They do not have citizenship rights despite the fact that they have been living in different parts of Jammu province since 1947.
These are three immediate issues which the people of Jammu province would want the state government and the central government to address. These are all genuine issues. It is hoped that the new government, when it is formed, will address these issues in the state's larger interest. |
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