The world is changing fast , so must our country also otherwise that will not only amount to ”missing the bus” but waiting frantically for the next one to arrive by the time probably it will be too late. Who had conceptualised, taking a very small example, that students needed not to attend classes physically but right sitting home they could get lessons and trainings satisfactorily. Old ways and techniques, approaches and responses must pave way for what we call innovative ideas to practice for better and optimum results. The very word innovation literally means making changes and introducing new methods and ideas – products and services et-al. And, it is all not to be done in isolation but should be apparent,visible andnoticeable which is sought to be ”measured” by means of a comparative analysis to appraise levels of performance and find out areas of weaknesses. For the last few years, the country is undergoing a perceptible change for courting new ideas and welcoming reforms. Newer challenges are intricate and complicated and meeting them with old, obsolete and worn out solutions would mean mere mediocrity, if not absolute failures. Alas, but there is slight antagonism to such innovations and reforms purely more for settling political scores and very less for any inherent drawbacks in such reforms . NITI Aayog, verily, for achieving such objectives had introduced in the year 2019 the first ever India Innovation Index for encouraging the states and the Union Territories to adopt innovative methods in functioning and thus instilling a culture of innovation in them. The concept was aimed at promoting competitive federalism and assessing the innovative graph through the tool of the index besides creating synergies between different stakeholders. With a larger aim to transforming the country into an innovative driven economy, the results so far have shown that the concept has worked and that we are on a right path towards that end. Recently, analysing the expected dividends from the path towards opening up more post COVID -19 pandemic, it is hoped that we were poised to rebound back with positive growth figures. However, the pertinent question is as to where Jammu and Kashmir stands in the said Index.It is quite disheartening to note that even Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Andaman andNicobar Island have performed better than Jammu and Kashmir and that our ranking is at last but one. This came to fore vide NITI Aayog’s latest Innovation Index , released on January 20 which covers all the states and the UTs in the country. Where and why have things gone so wrong for Jammu and Kashmir so as to ”settle ” for sitting at the bottom and not like Karnataka which made it for the second time to top the index and perhaps may be striving for a hat t trick in the next index. Among the UTs and City states, Delhi ranked at the top followed by Chandigarh. Is a lethargic bureaucracy responsible for such poor performance? In Jammu and Kashmir where even majority of top bureaucrats do not feel inclined to file even their yearly mandatory return on their movable and immovable properties despite repeated reminders, adopting innovative methods remains a distant dream. We cannot hide all our weaknesses and not walking a new step even if it be an extra one, behind the stereo type rhetoric of ”unfavourable conditions” which , however, are now fast changing and absolute normalcy is not that far now – an incident of violence here and there notwithstanding. Why, despite there being lot of potential,talent, industrious people , dedicated and qualified professionals in each and every field, we had to draw an absolute blank in the index. There being tremendous scope for both performance as well as for “Enablers” in Jammu and Kashmir, even if we excel in performance alone, no wonder in next index, Jammu and Kashmir shall be with encouraging figures .We have in this UT , therefore, to find out areas of our weaknesses and shortcomings and explore the huge potential that lay in innovation led entrepreneurship , attracting and encouraging start-ups and hi-tech companies . Other parameters like investments, business environment, knowledge output and knowledge diffusion, human capital etc need a detailed in-depth analysis to do more. We should strive for an overall perceptible change in the mindset that perhaps is struggling between the status -quo ante and the innovations. We must change in perception and individual contribution as the days have arrived when before leaving one’s office, factory, institute etc one has to ask ”Did I perform better than yesterday and what is the goal for tomorrow for me”
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