Wg Cdr Mahesh Chander Sudan (Retd)
The journey of our life wrapped in days, months and years presents an opportunity to make resolutions, to dream for future, to celebrate our achievements and to rededicate ourselves for better tomorrow. This point of turn where one year ends and the other starts its journey could be more closely understood through inspirational quotes of revered people like Abraham Lincoln, Buddha, Mahatam Gandhi and many others. To quote a few, Abraham Lincoln said that “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other,” Budda believed that “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth… not going all the way, and not starting” and the father of nation Sh. MK Gandhi felt that “Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of TIME.” On the eve of New Year, we all flashback to pass through our achievements during the year and look ahead to make resolutions for the coming year. The year, 2022, though inherited COVID stressed situation but it helped people around the globe to meet challenges successfully and decimate the effect of the disease progressively through recently developed vaccinations and better medication.
Time and tide wait for none but the potentiality of the sufferer can withstand them differently. It thus infers that well grown capability and capacity can help one to win over any situation emerging out of manmade or natural disasters. The people of JKUT are passing through a transitory phase of life for last couple of years on account of political instability that has affected delivery of public utility services due to redrawn territorial and administrative limitations. Coincidental onset of natural and manmade disasters posed extraordinary challenges for the governance dispensed through temporary established constitutional measures that allowed uncertainty to prevail unchecked. Immature fall of popular government in the year 2018 followed by both manmade absence of elected government and natural disaster constrained the normal functioning of system resulting in underperformance of both government agencies and the people in general. It has affected overall growth that restrained opening of new industrial venture to create employment avenues for both skilled and unskilled laborers that hurt the employability, per capita earning, and GDP growth at 4.1% as per latest data affecting all public utility sectors besides denying democratic right to franchise to poor people of the State/UT. The constitution of India lays down various provisions to ensure that democracy prevails at all cost and no section of society or part of the country is ruled under temporary provisions for such a long haul affecting Human Development Indices (HDI) on multiple counts. Undoubtedly, the democracy functions and grows on the principle of inclusivity thereby attracting participation of the people for their own welfare unlike the present administrative set up constrained and concise to LG and his only Advisor. A conscious flash back of the events during year 2022 especially in JKUT shows mediocre achievements with regard to governance of public resources other than a noticeable relief from the pandemic stressed environment.
The people of JKUT equally deserve to live in functional democracy, enjoy public utility services without any discrimination like other honored citizens of India. The burden of uncertainty affecting across the spectrum of society may hopefully wither away in the New Year with improved employment opportunities, better health facilities to all especially for vulnerable ones, updated and world competitive education facilities for children would progressively be available in future to set an all round harmony in the society. It is expected that denied democratic right to vote would be restored during year 2023 so that participatory governance of public resources is regained and centralization of power with bureaucratic hegemony of civil servants is replaced with elected representatives who could be next door opportunity available to raise public concern.
Another critical area affecting educated youths is unemployment that needs attention of the ruling dispensation. The rate of unemployment worked out for the month of Nov 22 is 23.86 % that put JKUT second top region by unemployment next to the state of Haryana whereas the national rate of unemployment is around 8% during the said period. The people of JKUT expected, as assured time and again by the Union Government, to have increased employment opportunities for youths both from rural and urban areas to involve them in productive activities and disassociate them from other social evils, depression and drug addiction.
It is also expected that the ill equipped government schools suffering deficiency of contemporary infrastructure and teaching faculty may receive due attention of the government to improve quality of education that suffered during COVID stressed environment and reached pathetic state affecting strength of students in government schools in some cases even less than number of teachers. Another issue that arose during said period is continuity training of teachers to cope up with modern techniques of teaching as practiced by private sector schools. The people of JKUT look forward for progressive modernization of schools and other education institutes for quality of education required to be achieved.
The quality of health care system of the Union Territory needs to be upgraded in terms of quantity and quality. Both public and private sector hospitals are expected to improve in terms of knowledge and machinery to cope up with the contemporary advancements made by the medical sciences especially when the multiple challenges are raised by pandemic and other complicated health issues. The people of JKUT are expecting healthy involvement of the concerned officials in the year 2023.
To be on the brighter side, the people of JKUT expect that the year 2023 would lead them to revival of their democratic rights at the earliest, safe and secure environment across the regions, foster age old brotherhood across the social spectrum of the society, better employment avenues for youths, effective governance of resources to improve education and health services across the length and breadth of the Union Territory, citizen friendly administration with well-maintained law and order through equity and justice. At the same time, it is expected that responsible citizens of the Union Territory should resolve to exercise their priceless mandate in favor of a political entity with due regard to their own welfare and the larger wellbeing of the state. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.
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