Bullet Train Project

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Indian railway system is preparing to take a giant leap forward as the Indian prime minister breaks ground on the country’s first bullet train project.  Gujarat to Mumbai 217mph train will cut journey time from eight hours to three and is funded with low-interest Japanese loan.

 

Slamming the bullet train project, NDA ally Shiv Sena has stated that  the project was not a dream of the common man but that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 

The Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, sought to know if the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speed train project really fits into the needs of the country.

 

The criticism came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone of India’s first bullet train project in Ahmedabad.

 

“We are getting a bullet train without asking for it. We do not know exactly which problem will this problem solve,” the Sena said.

 

“(Former Prime Minister) Pandit (Jawaharlal) Nehru laid the foundation of several projects, from Bhakra Nangal to Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, to ensure the country advances in technology and science. All these projects were needed for the nation. Does this bullet train fit into the needs of the country?” the ally asked.

 

Out of the estimated Rs 1,08,000 crore cost of the project, at least Rs 30,000 crore would have to be shelled out by the Maharashtra government, it said.

Poor Roads in Kashmir

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Roads are the face of every concerned area .The roads in Kashmir are in much poor condition. Roads are an indicator of development of any state. .Construction is often shoddy, and in no time, what appears as a beautiful job done turns out to be a big travesty with potholes opening every now and then .  It looks as if we have forgotten even the roads of summer Capital Srinagar.

Sane voices state  with concern the poor quality of some roads recently constructed in the state . It has become a vicious cycle of road repairs and deterioration; a wasteful cycle that has seen no solution over the years and decades. The apathy shown by some government officials entrusted with the duty of supervising government projects also abounds in the state to the extent that masses feel disheretned work of our administration.

 

Even common people on many a times have alleged that some contractors have in the past gotten away with very poor work, because no one seemed to be bothered by this and no vigil is maintained to keep a track of the efficiency of work done . They were accountable to themselves only.

We need to definitely give proper attention to the development of our overall road network otherwise we will remain always an underdeveloped economy because roads are lifeline of economy.

Dream of Peace

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Peace is the need of every human who has sanity and wisdom. No sane human can afford to live in an atmosphere of bloodshed and violence continuously and it does not keep society in a healthy shape when it continues to lose its precious lives in mad cycle of violence. In the society of Kashmir conflict has ruined the taste of life. The lingering political violence is the root cause of violence.

Deaths, killings, injuries, blinding have over the past three decades became order of the day and thus the life has lost its real meaning in Kashmir. The people of Kashmir feel that they are caged in ever ugly cycle of violence.

At the current juncture of time, the violence graph with every passing moment is touching new ugly levels as a result we the people are ultimate sufferers. Every happiness has been replaced with tears and suffocating cries as a result the real charm of life is not at all felt in the pained valley of kashmir, where peace is the dream of each sane soul.

Violence from state or the non state actors can in no way solve the vexed issue of Kashmir but will only add to the count of dead.

On the positive note the people of the subcontinent  are beginning to abandon the mutually suicidal path of conflict and confrontation;  and reaffirm belief in exchanges with latest being  between schools of the two countries, which would yield positive results for sure .

It is high time that all the concerned stakeholders brainstorm and bring about the required changes for achieving peaceful kashmir.

 

 

Unabated Kashmir Killings

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Killings , killings and Killings are the only words and headings emanating  from the news landscape these days  in Kashmir. Although valley of Kashmir having witnessed bloodshed since past three decades the current times look more worse. Civilians, local militants, policeman, soldiers getting killed on regular basis is now no new thing in Kashmir as it has become almost hourly occurrence.

 

The Killings of  civilian and protestors due to varied reasons have become order of the day. Wailing Kashmiri mothers and sisters mourn the acts of the different violent sources  is order of day  and the images are seen in the print, online  media and in  the satellite television medium. These killings have refreshed the killings of more than one lac homosapiens  in Kashmir in past three decades .
Yesterday , was never  different in kashmir as bloodshed is  visible quiet clearly in every nook and corner of Kashmir as if  all stakeholders to conflict have license to kill Kashmiri.
The realities of ground zero  clearly point out that the choice in Kashmir is not between peace and war, but between no-peace and no-war stalemate. These realities bear testimony to the fact  current moratorium on brutalities in Kashmir done by different sources amounts the Roman peace, eloquently described by the Roman poet Virgil: “You, O Roman, remember to rule the nations with might. This will be your genius—to impose the way of peace, to spare the conquered and crush the proud.”

One hopes a peaceful solution is found soon and these killings come to end

Qatar Crisis

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The Qatar crisis that has erupted few weeks back is taking the politics of Middle East to new crisis and also impacting the global polity with changing equations.

As a matter of fact, The 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis occurred recently as a result of several countries abruptly cutting off diplomatic relations with Qatar. These countries included Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt. The severing of relations included withdrawing ambassadors, and imposing trade and travel bans.

 

On ther hand, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other countries have criticized Al Jazeera and Qatar’s relations with Iran, and accused Qatar of funding terrorist organizations. Qatar denied that it supports terrorism, given that it has assisted the United States in the War on Terror and the ongoing military intervention against ISIL.

 

Saudi Arabia’s actions were verbally supported by United States President Donald Trump. Many countries in the region, including Turkey, Russia and Iran, called for the crisis to be resolved through peaceful negotiations.

The move has brought new equations with Qatar, Iran, Turkey and Russia on one side and Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE ,Bahrain etc on the other side of the divide .The Qatar crisis is bound to leave its own impacts on global polity .

 

Late Marriages

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In other parts of world  child marriage has all along been a grave issue, as a matter of fact a universal issue , but here in the Valley of Kashmir, given the unstable  nature of situation, the dilemma is that the marriage of boys and girls is getting delayed and late marriages is thus a serious issue . Late marriages have in fact become a strange norm here .According to a  study conducted few years  by senior sociologists at University of Kashmir, the average age of marriage of the females has shot up from 20.7 to 27.83 years. As far as the males, the age of marriage has risen to 31.53 years from 23.63 years in normal times.

Experts state manner in which the Kashmir society has shaped its social fabric and the violent circumstances prevailing are said to be among the main reasons behind this upsetting phenomenon..

Pertinently, the main causes are – political turmoil, practice of dowry, accomplishment of modern education and unemployment are the main reasons resulting into a trend of late marriages.
But there are some voices that clearly describe the prevailing turmoil being the chief reason behind late marriages. Thousands of Kashmiri youth have been killed during 28 years of militancy. Secondly, due to turmoil in the Valley, a large number of Kashmiri boys go outside the state to pursue further studies where they marry their class or college mates.

The need of the hour is to initiate a revolutionary movement to curb this unpleasant tendency of late marriages in our society.

 

Internet Gag in Kashmir

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Over the past few decades the medium of Internet has emerged as the lifeline for carrying our daily chorus of life  . Internet  has multiple positives -We access news and other related websites to update ourselves about the current affairs, we rely on the communication platform it offers to communicate with the world. Be it using a social networking website like Facebook, twitter  to post what’s happening in our lives and connecting with global audiences , or using an application like Whataspp, Skype or Viber to talk to our dear ones; web is the medium. Be it to get  information or to entertain ourselves, Internet is always our first choice. Even in many places internet is  used  to order food and used as medium to  shop in fast life of current times .

Unfortunately, the conflict ridden valley of Kashmir has suffered a lot due to frequent internet gags over the past few years and Infact has seen more gags imposed on internet  than war devastated Yemen, Iraq and Syria etc . Now in latest shocker and seen as a reaction to students agitation Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered suspension of internet services in the trouble-hit valley for a period of one month or till further orders.

As per the government directive, social networking sites to be suspended include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, QQ, WeChat, Ozone, Tumblr, Google+, Baidu, Skype, Viber, Line, Snapchat, Pinterest, Telegram, Reditt, Snapfish, YouTube (Upload), Vine, Xanga and Flickr.

 

Masses and all voices of sanity are aghast over the move  and demand that this latest internet gag should be revoked to prevent further damages.

Perils of Caste System on Kashmir

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Caste System is rotting the soul of Kashmiri society. Today or tomorrow, the Kashmiri society will have to undergo a serious change or chemotherapy and we all have to pass through sever pain in knowing the demons of caste system. It is well observed by sane voices that Kashmiri society can never achieve its noble objectives and become developed with these caste discriminations or caste existence. It is to be noted that this menace of the caste system exists in countries like India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka and other few nations.

In kashmir although caste system does not necessarily manifest itself into brutal violence like many other parts of world   but has serious unfavorable consequences  on the intellectual development of the Kashmiri society as it leaves people divided into water tight compartments. In Kashmir, we have had the tradition of calling some castes such as Quershis, Makhdoomis, Qadris, Andrabis etc as the so called higher castes while a number of castes are termed as the so called lower castes which is totally against the spirit of our great religion Islam.

We have also developed a shameful lexicography in this regard”. We even as a matter of great concern tend to break relations if a so called upper caste family enters into relation with the other family which is deemed low caste by our backward society.

Without a doubt the dark realities of caste system demand that every young Kashmiri should seriously commit to fight against the casteist mentality and irrational social norms which suffocated human aspirations and dreams. We need to launch a serious reform and revolution to end this menace.

Internet Shutdowns and Kashmir

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Internet is the lifeline of every society owing to its multi- dimensional uses. In Kashmir valley a decade back the real internet boom ushered and people of Kashmir started its use for carrying out business, social networking and other activities.

Unfortunately, due to ongoing political upheavals the medium of internet has been biggest causality .

As a matter of fact,Jammu and Kashmir has experienced 27 Internet shutdowns since 2012, highest for any other Indian state, with nine such incidents reported in 2016, data by legal service organisation SFLC revealed. On the otherhand, as a standard procedure, mobile services and mobile internet is snapped in Kashmir valley on Indian Republic and Independence days, with an exception on this year’s Republic Day.

The data released few days back  provided by Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC) reflects that since 2012 there have been 62 incidents of Internet shutdowns across various regions in 12 states in the country, with 30 being reported in 2016 itself, and four instances in the first month of 2017.

Last year for many months internet was shutdown affecting life adversely in Kashmir valley. Pertinently, after Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani was killed on July 8, 2016, mobile internet services were snapped by the authorities citing security reasons. The services were restored on November 19 for post-paid connections and on January 27, 2017 for pre-paid connections.

One hopes there will be end to this frequent internet shutdowns in Kashmir.

Winter Tourism In Kashmir

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After the debacle caused to Kashmir tourism due to bloody unrest 2016,  the recent heavy snowfall across Kashmir has brought happiness and smile back on people especially those who depend on Tourism for livelihood purposes .With the impressive snowfall,  Tour operators and Hoteliers in Kashmir are gearing up for winter tourism in Kashmir.

Also, with this impressive snowfall one of  the longest dry spell in Kashmir history came to an end. Kashmir desperately needs to promote winter tourism to boost its economy and increase the sources of income is the pulse on ground  .We need to remind ourselves that Tourism is an important, even vital, source of income for many regions and countries. Its importance was recognized in the Manila Declaration on World Tourism of 1980 as “an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational, and economic sectors of national societies and on their international relations.

In a related optimistic development, J&K tourism department has already decided to hold a snow festival in Gulmarg at the end of January. Pertinently, more measures should be taken to promote Kashmir as best winter tourism resort and the necessary infrastructure with reference to it should be built. We also need to look beyond Gulmarg as in winters whole flow is to Gulmarg and in this regard more destinations should be showcased as winter tourism destinations.

For the moment, snowfall is giving hope of revival of winter tourism in Kashmir.