Unfortunate as it is, unrest in the Valley has happened at a time of the year when it should never have happened. Kashmir is a winter zone with severe winter and heavy snowfall during winter months. Only one staple crop is grown in one year and its success depends on how favourable the weather remains. The same is also true about the horticulture industry. Its overall impact is that agrarian activities in the Valley are very much restricted by the climatic conditions even if there is no scarcity of water for irrigation unlike the Kandi areas.
In this scenario, the economy of the State has to depend on two other activities, namely tourism and handicrafts. Though handicraft is age-old activity pursued by thousands of families as their profession from ancient times, yet its true benefit is subject to many conditions and circumstances. It badly needs intervention by the Government in the matter of quality control and marketing. No doubt Government has done much in this area but with the rising size of population and improvement in the standard of living, it is important that the Government should come up with more reformative and progressive measures for the industry.
According to economic experts, the premier industry that has the potential to be of far greater importance to the economy of the State is tourism. Its base is the great tourist destinations in all the three regions of the State. But Kashmir valley has had the primacy in tourism from olden days perhaps owing to its history. During the British Raj, Kashmir was a cherished destination. The fact is that prior to the British colonialists, tourism was not at all a standardized industry in the State. It is the British who laid the foundation of tourism culture in the Valley and it not only persisted until the departure of the British but perpetuated after that as well. With great improvement in road and air connectivity, tourist industry of Kashmir received great impetus. When purchasing power of the people in the country increased, tourism received boost. Hundreds of thousands of people got connected with tourist industry till it became something like a big empire. Influx of tourists from within the country and abroad in large number threw up more tourism avenues, like hotels, restaurants, skiing and hiking engagements. Even antiquarians and archeologists also began to evince keen interest in all the three regions of the State. Brisk tourism necessitated building new roads and maintaining old ones. It meant upgrading transport industry and make vehicular transport safer and easier. It also became catalyst to quantum jump in air service to and from Srinagar/Leh and Jammu. Railways are running no fewer than 60 trains daily between different railway stations in the country to Jammu or Katra. Kashmir and Ladakh tourism also meant manifold increase in the economy of Jammu region as more tourist destinations in Jammu began to be explored besides the holy cave of Mata Vaishno
Devi shrine where the number of pilgrim tourists has shot up to 1.20 crore a year. All this is a happy scenario and people are satisfied that tourist industry could be a dependable source for buttressing State’s economy.
Alas all this has met with disaster this summer owing to the wave of unrest that has taken the entire valley into its grip since July 8 when the security forces conducted an operation to liquidate a militant commander. On the behest of external handlers, local separatist leadership has taken recourse to negativism in politics and brought about the shut down in the entire Valley which has entered 40th day. We will not focus on other areas of human activity and will confine ourselves to the tourist industry alone. Perhaps no other industry has suffered as much of loss as this industry has suffered. Good tourism presupposes peaceful environs, safe journey, assured comforts, dependable transport and so many other pre-requisites. With the call for strike from the separatist leaders, entire valley has come to stand still. Tourists left Kashmir, yatris wound up and business people thronging Kashmir in summer packed up and left. The streets are deserted, shopkeepers have pulled down the shutters, Government machinery has come to a grinding halt, and movement has become endangered owing to uncontrollable mobs hurling stones on running vehicles and restaurants and hotels shutting down because services are not available. According to a confirmed report during the period of August 1 to 12, a total of 10,095 tourists visited Kashmir valley against 89,243 during same period last year. This means about only one-tenth of what had visited last year. Naturally, private enterprises like hotels, restaurants, tourist oriented agencies had to enforce large reduction of manpower and investment which has resulted in thousands of unemployment in the Valley. In the same way occupancy in Government and private accommodation has come down drastically and only 2-4 per cent occupancy has been recorded for this year. Contrary to this, tourism in Ladakh has shown big jump upwards because that area, besides its natural attraction, is peaceful and tranquil. The number of tourists to Ladakh and Jammu region (pilgrim tourism) has broken all previous record. More than ten thousand foreign tourists have visited Ladakh and even far off Nubra till August 12 this year.
Yet, additional adverse fallout of the month long strike has been that thousands of vacancies in the State for filling which Government machinery was geared into motion had to be suspended because the candidates cannot move and officers cannot convene interviews. This is a loss to the prospective candidates, the Government and the society at large. Same is true of student community because schools and colleges are closed down. What will happen to the education of hundreds of thousands of students in the State? The strike should be called off if Kashmir is to be saved from disaster.
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