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| Is Delhi alienating J&K? | | |
The order of the Union Home Ministry cracking down on pre-paid cell phones in Jammu and Kashmir has come as a bad decision though with good intentions. While all efforts made to plug in loopholes in the security system of the country must be appreciated but singling out a particular state in a blatant manner that too without serving a proper notice has its long term dangerous effects. Communication system has always been a bad story in Jammu and Kashmir often becoming hostage to the security concerns. Soon after internet boom arrived in India and underdeveloped states like Jammu and Kashmir started catching up the web pace, the state was taken out of the World Wide Web for many years as ban on internet continued till 2001. It was in 1990s that cell phone boom rocked India and it grew in next few years with an unprecedented pace. This boom was blocked from entry into Jammu and Kashmir for security reasons. It was only as late as October 2003 that the government Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was allowed to launch cellular telephony in Jammu and Kashmir and then there was no looking back in next few years. Experts believe that with every six to eight per cent growth in teledensity, there is a corresponding increase in economy by around two percents. Between 2003 and 2009, the teledensity in Jammu and Kashmir grew with an enormous pace to become one of the fastest in the country. It was the success story of BSNL which attracted Airtel and then a host of other companies taking the total number of cell phone service providers to seven. Another fact needs to be appreciated here that cellular service providers have been the only face of Indian corporate culture in Jammu and Kashmir as the IT majors and other large companies are still not convinced with the state of affairs prevailing in this state. It is the factor of uncertainty, some real and some perceived, which keeps the corporate majors away from this state. While on the one hand the government of India and the state government claim that they want to development Jammu and Kashmir and on the other hand with retrograde decisions like banning cellphones and internets they discourage the captains of industry from dealing in this state. The ban on pre-paid cell phones which comes into effect with this day has hit nearly one-thirds of the total population in Jammu and Kashmir in many ways. There are economic losses and emotional losses –both are unaffordable for a state like Jammu and Kashmir. It is a part of common knowledge that cell phone companies are one of the largest employers in Jammu and Kashmir. From executives to sellers and resellers they have engaged hundreds and thousands of youths with descent economic activities. Once a connection has been sold out to a subscriber, it opens up earning opportunities for the rechargers for many years. The decision taken at top echelons of powers must have come after serious deliberations, field inputs and cogent reasons but has all the elements of fueling alienation in the society. The security reasons as put by the Home Minister P Chidambram are well appreciated, particularly in light of innumerable cases of issuance of pre-paid cell connections on fictitious documents but verification system could have been strengthened instead of taking such regressive decision.
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