Politicians, Economists Debate Omar’s Job Policy
ZAFAR CHOUDHARY
Politicians say it is not a good politics, economists say it is not a good economics –the ambitious employment policy of the National Conference led government will have to bear tests of the times before it can be called as a historic initiative.
A day after the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced the mega-employment policy, the reactions coming in are not entirely unexpected but there are technical and policy points which are being debated. Arguably, it is third time in the state that an allowance based job policy has been formulated. The first such is reported to have come from Syed Mir Qasim in early 1970s and the second during first tenure of Dr Farooq Abdullah in early in 1980s when he created such a provision for Engineers.
It is not unusual for the opposition parties to criticise what the governments do and the criticism coming in is not out of place. However, when asked what they would have done, the consensus answer is that instead of allowances and jobs the best route to be taken is always creating avenues in the job intensive sectors.
What Omar has done on the eve of birth anniversary of his grandfather and National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah appears to be loaded with politics –of election and image –but how far it goes to deliver him results is a hard question to answer. It is a difficult economics to explain as finances of the state are not too stable to support one lakh jobs, allowances and investment supports. As far as the politics of the policy is concerned, assembly elections are five years away and expecting people to hold on results for as long time is bit too risky.
Veteran economist and Director of JK Bank, Prof Nisar Ali allays the fears of financial indiscipline. Ali, who has worked with many Finance Ministers on budgets and policy formulations, says, “since the scheme comes into effect in April it is expected to be fully budgeted”. Isn’t it a burden still? Ali says, “it is all about resource mobilisation, if government is able to mobilise then nothing bad about the idea”. “There are many areas where taxation is long overdue as they were often skipped in budgets for a variety of reasons”, says Prof Ali, who is also member of the high powered State Finance Commission.
Describing the Sher-e-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Policy as repackaging of existing schemes, Nayeem Akhter of the Peoples Democratic Party says that allowance can’t be a substitute of jobs which youths are looking for. Mockingly describing the allowance scheme as “Rs 500 subject to many terms and conditions”, Nayeem alleges a political motive behind the announcement at this stage. He argues, “one the one hand the Chief Minister is talking about Panchayat elections and on the other he suggests engaging youths under Voluntary Services Allowances in the process of Panchayat elections which clearly suggests that they (government) for immediate political gains”.
Contradicting Nayeem, Dipanker Sengupta, an economist, says that allowance is not a bad idea altogether. Sengupta is perhaps the only respondent, this writer spoke to, who supports the allowance scheme “to an extent”. He says, though meagre, the allowance scheme does two things –it saves many a youths from the routine embarrassment of pocket money they undergo and it does not hurt the state finances much. After all, says Dipanker, whosoever is getting few hundred rupees from the government is also rendering some service.
“It is an insult for the educated youth and the Chief Minister has hurt all badly”, says Ashok Khajuria, the state president of BJP. A graduate or postgraduate was expecting a descent job but he has been insulted with Rs 1100 offer”, alleged Khajuria. Admitting that unemployment is a problem in Jammu and Kashmir, when asked imaging in place of Chief Minister how he would have tackled, Khajuria said, “Unemployment can’t be a problem anymore if the government looks inwards”. How? “Cut the wasteful expenditures, mobilise funds on schemes and employ educated youths on the projects”, this is how Khajuria says the system can be made to work. The BJP president stressed to add that National Conference-Congress combine has always spoiled Jammu and Kashmir and this is what they are engaged in at the moment.
So what is the best employment policy for Jammu and Kashmir? “Wait for a while, I promise, that is what we will deliver”, says Nayeem Akhter with an added emphasis that Peoples Democratic Party believes in an employment policy which neither hurts the state finances nor the public sentiments.
Former Minister and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Forum, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen has an honest confession to make. “It is very difficult to work out a comprehensive employment policy, we failed to do it, our predecessors failed to do it but what Chief Minister Omar has announced Saturday is far below the expectations”, says Hakeem Yaseen. If the government meant by an allowance it should have been something around Rs 2000, to begin with, till an educated youth is gainfully employed. “I don’t think anyone is going to apply for this Rs 500 trouble”, believed Hakeem Yaseen.
Dipanker Sengupta feels voluntary allowance scheme is a workable proposition but the promise of creating one lakh jobs over next five years is “disastrous”. Where it does not hurt the finances it is tokenism where it hurts it is disastrous, says Sengupta, who teaches at the University of Jammu. Taking a poor view of overall economic policy, Sengupta regretted, “the present government has no care for the financial discipline and they are not even talking about it”. Recalling the initiatives taken by the previous coalition of PDP and Congress, Sengupta says, the previous government always appeared on tenterhooks streamlining finances, organising power sectors and mobilising resources but the present government is taking things too easy”.
Ashwani Sharma, an independent MLA, agrees with Nayeem that the employment scheme is more or less a repackaging of various ongoing state and central schemes. If the government is a bit serious about honestly addressing the unemployment problem, “they should make the self employment schemes workable as at stage people often give up to norms and procedures”.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
September 2009: UNDERSTANDING J&K ECONOMY
A lost has been written and debated on politics on Jammu and Kashmir but nothing much on the economy. Reading into J&K’s annual budget that was presented in August, Epilogue’s September Issue focused on developmental and economic profile of Jammu and Kashmir.
August 2009: UNFOLDING THE LAND OF MOON
August 2009 issue was one of the path-breaking in the life of Epilogue magazine. The cover story explored many aspects of life in Ladakh and carried a first hand of research on the state of media in the Himalayan cold desert.
July 2009: THE FUTURE OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR
July 2009 issue offered a rare insight into the whole gamut of Kashmir issue. An ACDIS, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign sponsored study, which was the cover feature, examined Kashmir issue from different perspectives.
June 2009: LOK SABHA POLLS 2009
With Prof. Rekha Chowdhary looking into various aspects, the May issue offered a complete view of the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir. An interview with Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather explained most critical questions on the state’s economy.
May 2009: J&K MOVING FORWARD
May issue was one of the rare collections of ideas where 12 natives from both sides of Jammu and Kashmir poured their ideas out of the heart on how boundaries can be blurred and relations can be strengthened.
April 2009: TREADING FAILURE
As world watches keenly the new unfolding developments in Pakistan, our consulting Editor D Suba Chandran traveled to the troubled country to bring fresh perspectives for our readers in April issue.
March 2009: CONNECTING J&K
Connectivity is a major issue in J&K and people in many areas taunt the government saying that roads were laid in remote areas only because they close to borders. Our March issue looked at the connectivity via roads, rail and air to bring to the fore the missing links.
February 2009: AGENDA FOR OMAR GOVERNMENT
The coalition government of National Conference and the Congress headed by Omar Abdullah took over on January 5 but it did not declare a shared agenda. Epilogue’s February issue put together opinions of well meaning people from across the country setting out an agenda Omar Abdullah government.
January 2009: MANDATE
A collectors issue, the special number on our second anniversary came as fastest possible. Yet professional correct work, on J&K elections. Result were declare on December 28 and our issue carrying complete elections analysis and elections trends at constituency level was out before the government was sworn
December 2008: HUNG ASSEMBLY
In the middle of elections our small team of staffers along with some 30 volunteers traveled across the length and breadth of Jammu and Kashmir to gauge the public mood. The conclusion was that there will be a hung assembly with NC as largest party, PDP second and Congress third. Looking at the pages of our December issue one can see all parties have come up with same number of seats as we had predicted except the BJP.
November 2008: ELECTIONS: CHALLENGE 2008
We have brought out three issues on assembly elections 2008 and the November issue was first in the series. Elections were being held in the backdrop of a worst separatist and communal agitation in state. With a commentary on the prevailing political and security atmosphere, the November issue carried a complete backgrounder on the past elections.
October 2008: INTRA-KASHMIR CONTACTS AND TRADE
Shortly before the historic cross-LoC trade was launched between two parts of Jammu and Kashmir, the United States Institute of Peace had come up with a most comprehensive study on making borders irrelevant. Under a special endowment from USIP, Epilogue carried reproduced the study in fall. It was a painstaking research taken by Hassan Askari and PR Chari, two leading policy experts of Pakistan and India, respectively.
September 2008: J&K’S SUMMER AGITATION
Summer of 2008 will always be remembered as a dark chapter in the secular and tolerance history of Jammu and Kashmir. On Amarnath land row, the lunatic and hawkish voices had completely taken over the sensible voices. We launched a search for the voices of peace and reason and came up with as many ideas as possible. We are happy that no chance was given to the narrow regional or religious views to creep in our pages.
August 2008: FALL OF COALITION
The coalition government peoples PDP and the Congress had come up with a Common Minimum Program at the time of its formation in 2002. When the government fell down in July 2008 after a bitter acrimony between coalition partners, they went out without leaving a report card on their performance. Epilogue brought out a point-wise examination of all 30 points contained in the CMP of governance and concluded that the pledges were forgotten.
July 2008: AMARANTH LAND ROW
In June-July-August 2008 Jammu and Kashmir was at face to face with a worst crisis of the history. Earlier the troubles have been involving regions this time religion was at the center of controversy. Truth was the obvious casualty when all parties involved fought pitched battles with state on streets and in the media. We carried a complete backgrounder in July issue and wrote an elaborate account of politics mixing up with religion. Then Governor Gen SK Sinha was in the line of fire. He gave a detailed interview to Epilogue –the only occasion he spoke to any media outlet before demitting Raj Bhawan office.
June 2008: CROSS-LOC TRADE
Trade across the Line of Control has arguably been the mother of all confidence building measures between India and Pakistan involving Jammu and Kashmir. Epilogue was arguably the first news and current affairs publication to come up with a comprehensive issue on broad contours of Cross-LoC trade. The bottlenecks we had talked about were later evident when trade was actually initiated in October.
May 2008: IDENTITY AND POLITICS
May 2008: IDENTITY AND POLITICS
We believe that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir can not be dealt with properly without obtaining an understanding of identities –regional and ethnic. Our May 2008 issue was about the tribal identities which have not been touched upon in researches and also in the larger political discourse. Gujjars, spread across the state, and Dards of Ladakh were the two tribes we covered in this issue with a promise to cover all identities in subsequent issues.
April 2008: FOOD SECURITY
In the thick of politics the crucial issues of food and shelter are often lost. Our April 2008 issue dealt with the question of food security in Jammu and Kashmir and that perhaps the most comprehensive coverage of the subject. A lead essay by father of green revolution MS Swaminathan left hardly any thing to add. State Agriculture Minister gave the policy vision and Vice Chancellors of two Agriculture Universities in J&K made an elaborate account of research and technology in making Jammu and Kashmir food secure.
March 2008: PAKISTAN ELECTIONS
We can say with authority and confidence that no other magazine in India could cover the general elections in Pakistan as we did in March 2008 issue. There were indepth reports, regional trends and analysis. We transcended borders to cover Pakistan elections as restoration of democracy in our neighbourhood assumed a huge importance for India in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular.
February 2008: MONEY MOVEMENT
This issue came after presentation of J&K’s annual budget and therefore carried a comprehensive analysis of the proposals made therein. As members of ruling coalition and opposition locked horns leaving almost no scope of debate inside assembly, we carried it here in the magazine. Finance Minister wrote for Epilogue what he could not say in assembly. There are articles from Abdul Rahim Rather, the leader of opposition who was also the former Finance Minister and interview with Mohammad Shafi another Finance Minister
January 2008: ECONOMY & OTHER IDEAS
For past some time the state government has been seen laying a huge stress on economic revival of Jammu and Kashmir. Our January 2008 issue came up with an analysis of the performance on economy where the former Finance Minister and the incumbent Finance Minister shared their ideas and approaches to the subject. Issue assumed significance as the budget session of legislature had been advanced by a month. Then Governor SK Sinha spelt out his stand on a variety of issues in a detailed interview.
December 2007: FORESTS & FORESTERS
Jammu and Kashmir should have been known better in country for its supposedly thick forest cover. The fact of the matter, however, is that now it is known more its depleting greenery. At a time when protection of forests appeared a non-priority and their exploitation had become a rank priority in the government we dared to bring out this special issue which was taken by a pinch of contempt by department’s top brass. Nevertheless, government institutions, forest agencies and non-governmental organization dealing with subject are still writing us for copies of this issue.
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