J&K comprises three provinces, each different from the other in all respects, demography, geography, culture, language, religion, ethnicity etc. Obviously, allotment of funds under annual development plans or five-year plans has to be commensurate with the guidelines set forth for allotment. But laying down the guidelines is not the end of things. What actually has to be ascertained is the all-round development of all the three regions. This is also a technical issue. It is the job of the Planning Department to identify the areas of development, specific projects, make estimates in terms of expenditures and earmark priorities etc. Developmental activity has to be undertaken under well defined planning and not in a haphazard manner. Justice and fairness have to be meted out to the regions and sub-regions.
Hard pressed by recurring protests of the people and grilling by the legislators, the Government responded as early as 2007 to examine through its own agencies whether there was any discrimination in the allotment of funds and related matters. It appointed the Financial Commission with clear terms of reference that it will report within one year on any discrimination in allotment of funds. The Commission took three years to complete the assignment. In between, the Government did not ask the Commission to expedite the mater, obviously because the Government also wanted to move at a snails pace. Once the report came in, the Government embarked on another long and circuitous exercise of asking different departments to study the report and submit their reaction. Simultaneously, it set up a Committee of Ministers to examine the reaction of the departments on the report of the Financial Commission, consolidate it and make final report to be submitted to the Cabinet for some decision.
One fails to understand the philosophy of constituting committee after committee or referring the report of the Financial Commission back to the departments for their comments. This is a stupendous exercise in wasting time and energy with the tacit purpose of stretching out the issue of rectifying discrimination if any. It speaks of Government’s unwillingness to tackle the issue straightaway and lay down a procedure of making allocations to the regions that will be abiding. The tortuous exercise through which the Government is handling the issue of discrimination is not the solution of the problem; rather it is exacerbating the problem and making it dimensional. There are indications that the Financial Commission’s report does highlight instances of discrimination against the regions or within the regions among the districts. There is no refutation of the allegation that some districts are much more backward in comparison to others. Why is there the wide gap in their development? Certainly it is manipulated by elements that would not want to be fair to the regions and districts. Neither departments have reported back their comments on the report of the Financial Commission nor has the Committee of Ministers met even once to emphasis upon the Departments to send in their reports expeditiously although the report of the Commission was submitted in 2012. Does it leave any doubt that the Government is not serious about the exercise and that is why it has adopted a lackadaisical attitude? Isn’t it an attempt to legitimize discrimination? It confirms the widespread impressions among the two regions of Jammu and Ladakh and also among districts within the regions that the Government is deliberately pursuing a policy of discrimination.
Discriminative policy is against the spirit of democracy. It breeds antagonism and hatred of the wronged people. We will also bring in the respective elected leadership of the affected regions, sub-regions and districts. They have to play the crucial role of harkening the Government against acts of arbitration. If the people of wronged regions raise the cry for regional or sub-regional autonomy, they cannot be accused of disunity.
The Government should constitute a Cabinet sub-committee to examine the report of Financial Commission and make recommendations to the Cabinet at the earlier for final decision in the matter. It must take guard of establishing enduring basics for allotment of funds to all the three regions on the basis of a clearly defined sate policy. Allocation of funds cannot be a matter of sweet will of one or the other minister or department. It is a state level decision and has to be implemented in democratic and transparent manner.
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