Dr Banarsi Lal & Dr Vikas Tandon
Inclusive growth is broad-based growth which includes productive employment and protects disadvantaged and marginalized sections of the society from adverse effects. The productive employment provides the key linkage between economic development and poverty eradication. A normal process of growth ensures the contraction of traditional sector and the expansion of the modern sector and the low productive, unregulated, informal and low paid jobs are replaced with productive and decent jobs. However, the experience of India has indicated that the traditional and informal sector not only persisted but expanded even after long periods of planned economic growth. The empirical evidences from the developing countries have proved that the expansion in the traditional and informal sector has been mainly due to lack of the supporting institutions. In the present era of globalization the role of these institutions has been significantly reduced. India, too, is not an exception of such world-wide trends. After two decades of faster economic growth, the informal sector has actually expanded. The level of employment may have increased during this period but the quality of employment is moving towards its dismal low points. Unlike the pro-poor growth agenda which focuses mainly on the welfare of the poor, inclusive growth is concerned with opportunities for the labour force in the poor and middle-class alike. It takes a long-term view and focuses on raising the pace of growth, on productivity growth and enlarging the size of an economy while leveling the playing field for investment and increasing productive employment opportunities.
Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is the most important part of India. This beautiful part of the country is being continuously affected by conflicts from about three decades which have adversely affected it’s all resources. Jammu and Kashmir is situated on northern most part of country covering. Sex ratio in J&K is 889/1000 and population density 124 persons per square km. Literacy rate is 68.74 per cent as per 2011 Census. The UT of J&K has been divided into two divisions, viz; Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir has been badly affected by violence and conflicts which hamper the growth and inclusive development and shattered peace. The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is bestowed with natural resources. However, violence and turmoil have given chance to all misdeeds which covers injustice, killings, corruption, delaines and disparity etc. Most activities like trade, tourism, transport connection and mobility of people etc. have also been disturbed. Trade provides opportunities for enhancing productive capacities, creates economies of scale and increases competitiveness.
Major challenges for J&K are as low agricultural productivity, low cropping intensity, less irrigation sources, low application of chemical fertilizers, less availability of quality seeds and planting material specially for the farmers of far-flung areas, inadequate facilities of warehouses, cold storages and godowns, absence of well equipped Mandis or markets, less use of electricity in agriculture, poor availability of useful metals such as iron, aluminium, copper, zinc etc., non-availability of good quality coal, inadequate number of polytechnics and higher education institutes for medical, engineering, nursing studies, lack of teachers training institutes, absence of big industries etc. Special steps are needed to upgrade the teachings in science. In the last few decades there has been improvement in road, rail, air and telecommunication connectivity.
Union Territory of J &K state enterprises need to be expanded to boost broad-based growth and allow private-sector development to promote sustainable inclusive growth. The inclusive growth agenda in governance entails establishing standards and conditions to foster resource mobilization, build strong institutions and mainstream transparency. J&K needs strong institutions with the necessary capacity and resources to effectively establish a sound macroeconomic framework, through a good public financial management. A better business environment with a legal and regulatory will encourage jobs and help to create a more stable and secure society. Inclusive growth requires to support the voices and democratic accountability of the poorest and vulnerable groups, the democratization and representation of all sections of the society in all economic and political spheres. In J&K numerous lives have been lost from 1989 due to gun battle. Largest scale displacement from different parts of UT is an integral part of Kashmir conflict. An estimated one million people has been displaced in the UT due to militancy. Conflict retards inclusive development and equally failure in development increases conflict. Other humanitarian costs included negative impact on women and other vulnerable groups and a noticeable increase in the psychiatric patients are in consideration. Almost all socio-economic sectors are got affected. The conflict has also cost the Indian govt. heavily in terms of deployment of security forces as well as other financial responsibilities. All agree that region is in dire need of peace which is important for development. According to the theory of development by Amritya Sen development and peace are intimately related.
The trend of development has been discouraged. The continuous conflicts have adversely affected all socio-economic sectors of Jammu and Kashmir. Violent conflicts cause growth to decline, corruption, inequality and injustice damage, infrastructure destruct physical capital, reduce investment and induce capital flight and lower personal saving rates. The ongoing conflict in J&K has resulted in forced migration of communities since mid nineties, damage to infrastructure and lags behind annual economy growth as compared to national level, tourism suffered tremendously, forest and agricultural areas etc. J&K lags far behind in annual economy growth as compared to national level and its per capita income is also behind the national average. Tourism one of the main industries in J&K has suffered tremendously due to violent activities. It has declined substantially since late 1980s. The number of tourists visiting J&K per year had gone down from seven million before militancy to few thousands in following years. Forest area is below the standard prescribed by national forest policy. The forests included a diversity of flora. The damage to the forests has deprived J&K of many plants of medicinal and aromatic value thereby negatively affecting the prospects of verbal trade. In the absence of large scale industries, the future of J&K depends primarily on the sectors such as organic agriculture, horticulture, dairy farming, poultry, tourism, sericulture and weaving, setting of small and medium scale industries based on medicinal and aromatic plants, value addition in ginger and turmeric, utilizing huge amount of water available in local rivers and streams, setting up of sufficient number of polytechnics and institutions for nursing, paramedics, pharmacy, repairing of transformers like television, air conditioners, refrigerators etc.
Union Territory of J&K is rich in culture and there is a great talent among the youths in music, dancing, painting etc. If sufficient numbers of schools are set up in J&K for teaching, singing, dancing and playing musical instruments, then a large number of youths can be employed. If a good investment is arranged in the above mentioned sectors and the cropping intensity in J&K is increased then there can be employment opportunities for the people of J&K. The number of bank branches and credit-deposit ratio also need to be increased in the region. There is also need to increase the tele-connectivity in the region for more digital and financial inclusion. Presently the government is taking several steps for all round development of J&K. In order to ensure fair and equitable distribution of fruits of development to all concerned, special and immediate steps are needed for the small and ethnic groups of J&K. The local languages of J&K needs to be promoted. The pollution free atmosphere of J&K and the large number of youths who are very fluent in English can make the policy makers to go a big way for setting up of electronic industries in J&K. In order to solve the acute problem of unemployment problem in J&K there should be special drives for increasing the intake of youths in nationalized banks, central paramilitary forces, railways, airlines, and other central public sector jobs.
(The writers are Head, KVK Reasi and Professor SKUAST-J).