BD Sharma
The Greater Plains of the Indian subcontinent extend up to Jammu region where it is known as outer plain of Jammu and Kashmir. It extends from Kathua through Hiranagar, Ramgarh, Bishana, RS Pura, Akhnoor to Khour. This tract is agriculturally productive and is locally referred to as Anderwah and Bajawat. This outer plain attains height gradually up to 600 meters to form the base of the hills commonly known as Shiwaliks. The last stretch of the outer plain and the lower slopes of Shiwaliks from Ravi to the Munawar Tawi constitutes an area which is known as Kandi. Word Kandi derives its origin from the Dogri word “Kanda” (Kinara), meaning the border or the periphery. Frederick Drew, the renowned English geologist and geographer in the employment of Maharaja Ranbir Singh, also states that the Kandi area is known as such because of its location at the “edging” of the great Plains. This tract is the extension of the Kandi belt of the States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand. In Jammu division the Kandi belt stretches to a width of about 10-30 kms.
These days, however, all the areas which have the same characteristics irrespective of the fact whether it is located at the edge or not is also included in the Kandi area. Thus in Kashmir valley the area designated as Kandi is not situated in continuity as in Jammu. In Kashmir valley the Kandi area falls both on the sloping Karewas and at the mountain foothills. Here the Kandi area spreads from elevated irregular terrain having altitude of around 1600 meters above MSL. It covers about ten percent area of the valley. Lawrence, the illustrated Settlement Commissioner has categorized the hilly backward area with scanty water resources as Kandi. Kandi area is mostly found along western side of the valley. Kandi area is characterized by numerous torrents (locally known as Khadds, Nullahs or Choies), hilly soil and scarcity of water.
According to Frederick Drew the Kandi area is drier tract due to two reasons. One is that the soil is more porous, being of a lighter loam and liable to have beds of pebbles in it; the other is that the ravines cut across to depths of 100 feet or more, causing a complete natural deep drainage and leaving a surface somewhat arid. Consequently, agriculture is largely dependent on rains which come neither regularly nor certainly so the agricultural production is very low here.
The land and water management are, therefore, the major problems encountered in the Kandi area. These problems arise due to the undulating topography, steep and irregular slopes, fragile geological conditions with erodible and low water retentive soils and badly dissected terrain by numerous gullies. This results in excessive runoff, soil erosion, land degradation and erratic rainwater distribution in space and time. The ground water table also turns substantially deep.
These problems have further been compounded during the recent years. In order to meet the requirements of the growing population, there is pressure on the land resources. On the one hand barren areas have been brought under cultivation and on the other, pressure on the old cultivated lands has increased due to conversion of the “Ek-Fasli” land into “Do-Fasli”. The ponds and other water bodies have been encroached upon and trees and shrubs have been indiscriminately felled. This has resulted in various water and environmental related problems such as land degradation, high rates of soil erosion, low crop productivity, loss of biodiversity, degeneration of forests, poor availability of water for drinking, domestic and rarely found irrigation purposes and the low productivity of animals etc.
Apart from the foregoing problems a number of socio-economic changes are also taking place in this area. Splitting of the size of the land holdings, generation after generation is making them abysmally small and uneconomic. Standard of education has drastically fallen producing a crop of semi-literates who neither succeed in the competitive arena of job market nor remain worthy of the perspiring pursuits of agriculture and animal husbandry sectors. The propensity of the younger generation always remains towards the Government jobs which are quite few and far between. The time when the Kandi people used to be given preference in recruitment of the Defence Forces has long passed now and this avenue of employment has also dried up for the Kandi youth. Large number of people from the Kandi area used to go to the cities to work as labourers but the new generation is neither physically stout nor mentally inclined to think of this arduous vocation. Since the land holdings have become small so the agricultural production is not sufficient enough to sustain a family. The farmer runs after other avenues. Consequently much of the land in Kandi area remains uncultivated and fallow. Moreover, the population of wild animals like monkeys, Nilgais and wild boars has also increased who often destroy the crops compelling the farmers at times to leave their land uncultivated.
All these factors combine to deteriorate the economic condition of the people of Kandi area. Resultantly, this is one of the most backward and underdeveloped areas of the Union Territory and calls for the urgent attention of the authorities. It goes without saying that water is the most essential natural resource next to the air, a basic human need and the most important input for all human development activities and, perhaps, very precious and scarce natural resource. Importance of water is even more crucial in the case of Kandi area and its availability can go a long way to ameliorate the condition of the people there. So in order to give impetus to the development of Kandi area attention needs to be given to develop, plan, conserve, utilize and manage this important resource, both surface and ground water, in a judicious, equitable, sustainable and sound economic manner. Our efforts in this regard have, however, not remained consistent. We were not able to procure our allotted share of water from the Ravi river due to our own sluggishness as well as the craftiness of Punjab government. The objectives envisioned in the development of Ravi-Tawi canal project could not also be fulfilled. Kandi targeted works of the Project such as Rahya Lift Irrigation Scheme, in Samba district, didn’t become fully functional despite incurring of huge expenditure. Now our hopes rest on the construction of Shahpur Kandi Dam wherefrom we hope to get our full share of water from river Ravi. But our past experience with the Punjab government has never been pleasant. Snatching away our share from the jointly running part of the Kathua Canal, denying our share of electricity, non-payment of compensation and job benefits to many families whose land has been acquired for Thein Dam by the Punjab government leave much to be desired. Even our tall leaders like Sheikh Abdullah and DD Thakur fell in the trap of Punjab leaders and didn’t strike a judicious deal for Jammu and Kashmir in 1978. We will be befooled this time also if we hand over the command and control of drawal and dispatch of water towards our area from the under construction, Shahpur Kandi Dam to Punjab government. In view of our past experience, we must devise a mechanism where we have the absolute say in channelizing our share of water from the Dam.
In order to give focussed attention to Kandi area, the Government in our neighbouring State of Punjab had constituted a separate wing, Kandi Area Development Administration, in the Irrigation Department (now named as Water Resources Department), as early as 1970s. And now some years back they have constituted a separate Development Board in order to give further boost to the development of Kandi area of their State. In fact a common Board has been constituted for Kandi and Border areas to look
after the holistic development in these two backward areas. Separate funds are earmarked for this purpose which are further distributed to various Districts on the basis of population and area.
In my opinion a separate Board for the development of our Kandi area should also be constituted here on the similar lines. Since our Kandi area is widely scattered so we may confine the jurisdiction of Board, unlike Punjab, to this area only. It may be true that proportionate funds in different sectors are being provided both by the UT and the Union governments to Kandi area in line with the other parts of UT. But this area has some specific problems and many disadvantages. Many gaps do, therefore, remain here which need to be plugged by giving focussed attention. The constitution of the Board is, hence, the call of the day. It will prove helpful to ensure effective development of socio-economic infrastructure in keeping with the contextual requirements. It will aid and advise the Government in drawing up schemes and programmes for the development of the area. Board will fix the priorities, undertake the area planning in order to ensure integrated and all around development. Finally, it will co-ordinate and review the activities of various departments with a view to remove the bottlenecks and difficulties in the speedy implementation of the development programme.
First and the foremost attention needs to be given to the management of water and prevention of soil erosion. An intensive programme of construction of a chain of Gully Plugs, Contour Bunds, Percolation Tanks and Check Dams starting from the origin of the torrents needs to be taken in hand on war footing. This will ensure multiple benefits ranging from flood control, prevention of soil erosion, recharging of ground water to regeneration of trees, shrubs and grasslands. Government has been taking up such works since many years. But all efforts have failed to produce the desired results. Monitoring the construction of these works through satellite imagery, GPS and other technological techniques may perhaps yield some worthwhile results as the manual effects have always failed to bear fruit both for the dams as well as for the people. Similarly removing encroachments from the tanks/ponds and other water bodies needs to be given priority in order to rejuvenate them and ensure that they play their role in improving the hydrological balance in the water starved area.
All these efforts will clear the way for intensifying the activities in the agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry sectors. Secondly, the introduction of the hybrid species of animals as well as plants have not shown very encouraging results in Kandi area because of the hot, arid and hostile conditions there. So a mix of hybrid and quality local varieties must be encouraged in the Kandi area. Similarly the local shrubs like Sentha, Gharna, Barenkad etc. should also be allowed to freely grow as they provide excellent fuel wood and also act as efficient soil binders. In order to obviate the consequences of split small land holdings, Cooperative Farming needs to be encouraged and facilitated. Solar energy plants cannot find a more suitable place than the Kandi area with its sloping surface and scorching heat. Government must approach the Corporate Houses engaged in the generation of solar power for establishing their units here. The small farmers may be guided to join hands to rent out their collated lands to these Enterprises. Farmers are certainly going to get remunerative returns for the fragmented pieces of land which otherwise remain unproductive. Management of the growth and disposal of the Khair/ Katha trees, the cash crop of Kandi area, must be taken up on scientific lines to sustain continuous benefits for the farmers. In the past, the Kandi farmers have been exploited by some politicians at the behest of some vested interests in the trade of Khair wood, which should not be allowed to be repeated again.
Apart from these core sectors, there are yawning gaps in other sectors also and plugging them would become possible only through the special dispensation to be provided through the Board. Two gaps with regard to the scarcity of drinking water and poor condition of roads come instantly to mind . Though large number of tube wells have been established and many more are likely to be taken up under the ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission yet the phenomenon of tube wells going dry after some years is disturbing. So a well thought out strategy needs to be worked out to ameliorate the age old problem of drinking water in the Kandi area. Similarly the condition of roads in the Kandi area remains pitiable despite incurring huge expenditure year after year. Contractors and engineers may be held responsible to some extent but a swathe of ravines and the loose soil in the Kandi area also play foul for the early degradation of roads. Possibility of constructing RCC/CC roads needs to be explored to obviate the recurring expenditure on maintenance of roads in this area. Other sectors shall also be having problems which can be identified and addressed gradually. Kandi area of the Valley, in addition, may have some other set of problems which are required to be dealt with keeping in view the prevailing local conditions there.
Kandi area is crying for the redemption of its problems. The proposed steps, it is hoped, would address them in a comprehensive manner. The provision of facilities and opportunities would help the area to integrate with the adjoining developed neighbourhood. It will also create a positive perception and encourage the people to earn their livelihood in their villages and lead a secure life.
(The author is a former civil servant)
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