S Tahir-ul Haq
Early Times Report
KUPWARA, June 1: Though there are scores of centrally sponsored schemes, the rural populace of this north Kashmir district fails to take any benefit of such schemes.
For example, Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) was launched for micro enterprises around two decades back in some parts of Jammu and Kashmir including the frontier district of Kupwara in north Kashmir.
There are hundreds of qualified boys and girls in some of the areas of Kupwara district like of Drugmulla, Shumnag, Trehgam, Sogam, Hirri, Awoora, and Zachaldara who are unemployed. They are however unaware about this scheme, said sources.
They said that the SGSY was having potential to adjust the people from rural areas under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) so that they could also compete with rest of the masses. "But we fail to understand why authorities like banks and Self Help Groups do not spread awareness about this scheme," said sources.
One of the local residents of Shumnag village told Early Times that it seems that the bank employees are themselves unaware about this scheme. "I had visited a bank in Kupwara to know about the scheme, but they could not satisfy me about any of the assistance schemes," he said.
"In the past government made tall claims about the entrepreneurship and about the loans from the banks with related to various schemes, and if there is any scheme in progress, that is not for the poor masses especially for rural areas," said Fayaz Ahmad of Shumnag.
Sajad Ahmad of Awoora said that some years back "I had come to know about this scheme, and since then I fail to get any concrete information about this scheme."
"I was not aware perhaps BPL people were left at all fronts. There is availability of funds for four districts of J&K-Kupwara, Anantnag, Doda and Rajouri. The authorities concerned had made some differences like the two district were selected in Jammu division and some funds for infrastructure were also utilized, while as both the districts of Kashmir were given least priority and with the result educated youth from our district couldn't get any help from the self help groups nor from the state government," said Sajad. |
