Yoginder Kaul, IPS Retd
Durbar move was a necessity while integrating the state of J&K in nineteenth century when state was formed after Maharaja Gulab singh took reign following a treaty with English empire in 1846.This was necessitated to make an organic entity with vast territorial jurisdiction of three diverse regions which included Gilgit ,Baltistan,Ladakh and two main regions i.e Jammu and Kashmir in 1871.The regions were at variance on most of the factors of culture, ethnicity, language, habits besides physical features of rugged terrain of Karakoram on northern side but was strategically important for Britishers against Russians expansionist empire who had to encroach other areas to get access to warm areas towards sea route.
The Durbar move strategy secured many goals till the fresh reorganisation of state on August 5,2019 in integrating the inorganic entity into organic mass well to be called largest domain of the then Maharaja. A part of which was forcefully and illegally occupied by kabalie raiders aided and abetted by the then newly created Pakistan when the state was about to accede to India on the basis of its secular ideals in 1947.The autocratic state lasted more than a century besides adopting the practice of Darbar move in 1872 by Maharaja Ranbir Singh to give equal attention to both regions when Valley and Ladakh used to remain cut off for more than six months.Then the same got truncated and one third of our land is held by so called POK illegally and further venturing to create further instability through their proxies for last three decades resulting in bloodshed and uncertainty in this region with tampers always on high with cross border cease fire violations during the current year.This they did after undertaking three attempts which failed ,due to peoples resistance and through exercise of franchise and peoples Government after 1947 besides superior might of our country.
The Durbar move policy was carried forward after 1947 by Awami Government by the peoples representative Government which resulted in overall development of all the three regions though there had been occasional discomforts among the regions but were addressed by the then dispensation relieving them with some relief to some extent. The over all development is visible but much remains to be done still, with aspirations growing seeing progress of our neighbouring states.
The Corona pandemic which has entered into 4 th phase , bringing the decline in economic activity and large scale migration of all daily wagers and students back to their native places following complete lockdowns of life and economic activity. A new challenge after 149 years is to be addressed on priority to save each rupee to be spent for the welfare of citizens of J&K who suffered immensely both on account of militancy and remaining is nibbled by Noval Corono19 these days .It will take a long time to recover to reach where from pandemic corono started spreading its tentacles.
It is a view, that we can think off to keep the UT secretariat for at least at one place for a minimum period for ten years with UT assembly session held in other part of region giving equal importance to both regions.Already the infrastructure for housing the offices and residential facilities exist that have been created with a proper maintenance deptts. with annual budget to care for their upkeep over past seven decades.
All the Deptts have separate regional directorates in the both regions, functioning independently with adequate powers delegated. Besides, the IT aid is presently in operation to monitor all the Distt Hqts by way of periodic interaction to keep the UT Hqts apprised with latest development and follow up of monitoring.. A few senior positions can be upgraded by way of a Financial Commissioner delegating more powers to oversee the admin affairs of Division to further strengthen and oversee subordinate Divison offices which will have maximum impact in present functioning and productivity is certainly to improve with. No office time will be lost as certain places have less than eight months of working time with the transit time of one month lost in a year .Many important decisions are delayed which gets relegated and lose their timely efficacy till fresh files are traced and correspondences made on subject.
The Panchayati Raj institutions need to be strengthened with more delegation of powers and made to work at grass root participation to make panchayats nodal agencies to gear the developmental activity. The MGNREGAS and other rural employment generating schemes be provided adequate work to address the earning capacity of reverse migration of all able bodied and educated person to take benefits in their own villages, who lost jobs in view of lockdown and declining economical activity and create assets in their local area for general utility.
Already the UT Govt in past have compiled all important aspects on urgent needs which a village is falling short during Back to Village programme exercise.The available manpower with technical skill can be best used to make the villages and urban centres Atamanirbar to a large extent with the already schemes announced by the Govt and recently by Union Finance Minister also .
The infrastructure of Health needs major push to provide health care for detection of corona patients with isolation wards,ICU and Quarantine centres till proper procedural treatment is available to treat patients with such symptoms.Further the benefits of Ayushman Bharat scheme is made to all who require treatment within state. It need to percolate down to the needy persons along with the new Medical colleges already set to be made properly equipped and functional by utilizing the professional service and attract best talent to multiply our Health human and parastaff resources.The same needs to be extended to other important sectors viz. education,social service, Jal Shakti Deptts,Power,Local Bodies with emphasis on adequate sanitation cover and manufacturing protective gear against Corona.Disaster management which has acquired importance to build capacity at local level before it assumes dangerous potential to manage in time of emergency such natural and man made disasters.
Initially this Darbar was not liked by the officialdom who thought it brings lot of inconvenience to the officials in settling and again shifting within six months, impacting their lives. A small number was ready who had lesser domestic responsibility used to enjoy as an excursion, but the same became an attraction in last few years with largesse being showered on the officers and official of Rs. 20000/per move regularly in six months each getting multiplied twice with good accomodation to most move employees maintained/hired on Govt expenses at a distance of 300 kms from each state Capital.The volume of officials with large paraphernalia got increased to more than five thousand from 33 Deptts. with the incentive of both allowances for dislocation, free transit time of two weeks .It must be an unique example in the present age when a region suffers most in all aspects, the seat of Govt remains away. A class cropped up enjoying best of the two worlds when we have large scale unemployment besides a huge number of daily wagers appointed at different times who remain languishing after spending major portion of life fighting for their rightful dues by way of protest and demonstrations on opening of each durbar at both the places to redress their genuine issues. A class of smart civilians who used to hop at both places had special skill into secretariate corridors to move files .The state has among the largest number of service petitions pending in Hon’ble courts for administrative decision on many important issues, many of them are seniority and framing of rules in the deptts which are vital for administrative functioning. This gave rise to highest number of litigations due to reasons known best to the who supervise the functioning of those Deptts when officials are clamouring to have a separate bench of CAT in UT to address their grievances.
We can, think of keeping rotational capital Hqts for a period of ten years that can bring effectiveness in administrative set up to address the urgent issues of development of infrastructure. This can boost rural development measures to make best use of resources saved to be used for manpower training,use local raw material, increase power generation ,road connectivity and irrigation canal facility net work to those areas which are falling short of it.Introducing fast growing cash crops, horticulture ,tourism, giving quality employable education with skills at plus 12 level.The traffic jams and air pollution levels can be kept under check.This can save around Rs.400 crores annually which was pointed by Hon’ble High Court J&K in this season due to bad financial position.The present adversity is to be used as an opportunity with behavioral change with less intention of scoring political points on flimsy issues rather than on long term to benefit the masses and overcome the impact of pandemic situation which may take long time to recover our lost pace of development and to put us on right progressive track.
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