Dr M A Shah
Completion of languishing projects and new initiatives in J&K are indeed hallmarks of Good Governance in J&K. I know that for more than 60 years, we were having only three Medical Colleges (one due to curtsey of local visionary doctors, which used to be locked once/twice in a week as a harassment dose). But from the last three years, we have been witnessing that around nine (9) Medical Colleges have been made operational besides AIIMS is under progress. A friend of mine visited DRDO hospital in the outskirts of Srinagar and was full of praises for the excellent facilities for SARS-COV-2 patients. The wisdom of the Government to set up Jammu and Kashmir Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (JKIDFC) to speed-up pending/languishing projects of more than 20 years old is another milestone. These initiatives shall soon be recognized by the common people as many of the projects are in completion mode. Night and international flights were a distant dreams; this too came true during this period. In the early morning I saw, someone have calculated Electric load of Kashmir Division is 1410MW and generation capacity of 2500MW is promised. The attitude of thankfulness and gratefulness to each and all, Muslim or non-Muslim, neighbor or non-neighbor, is the way to be thankful to God. This reflects a winning attitude toward life. The recent District Good Governance Index (DGGI) of Jammu and Kashmir covers 10 sectors and 58 indices with 116 data items, which include Human Resources and Development, Agriculture and allied sectors, Public health, Public Infrastructure and utilities, Environment, Justice and public safety, Commerce and industries, Economic Governance, Social welfare and Citizen-Centric Governance. In its true sense, if good governance is to be taken to the grassroots level, the district is a basic and an important unit. The good governance not only defines the rules of the game but also initiates and determines the structure of institutions. However, good the policies may be, if the capacities of the institutions implementing these policies are not matching the rigour of the policies, the policies will not be able to deliver what is expected of them. Keeping in view the growing population and indeed technological explosion that too at a dazzling speed, I believe, the districts for good governance should have.
- A full-fledged university (in fact a multidisciplinary university) as per NEP 2020 in each district. The oldest degree college in a district can be converted, where we have expansion options, or a new land can be identified (not like land of Central university of Kashmir) somewhere in the outskirts of the district (probably on foothills). Students in near future should go to universities on cycles and burden of lodgings and boarding on parents should be minimized. This university should have functional office to mentor all educational institutions of the district in a well coordinated manner. It should have a placement cell, an innovation hub, and a visionary to head this house of wisdom, surrounded by wise Board of Governors (BoGs).
- Medical College with a Hospital, having facilities of Nursing and paramedical training should be the priority of the government for each district. Allied health care education has to be improved and institutions be established in all districts as per new scheme with an increase in intake. This should also be on the outskirts of the district. Open dispensaries having atleast one nurse and assistant with first aid and medicines in every village. It will avoid the burden on district hospitals and well off people should come forward for establishing Nursing institutions in districts.
- Agriculture College in a district is the need of the hour. Agriculture Department has enough land (no doubt scattered) and manpower too to run colleges where periodical training programs can be imparted to in-services employees and farmers/growers. We can increase agriculture productivity through skilled agriculture graduates. Set up Agriculture Technology Parks to promote technology incubation and dissemination and promote sustainable methodologies. It includes study of horticulture, forestry, conservation, natural resources, agricultural products, production of food.
- The legal education and justice system need to be restored. We need to have law schools for bright students just after 12th class in each district. Our courts will not deliver justice unless capable advocates are not groomed by all means giving lessons of modern technology, leaving no scope of cheating and false statements. Actions, communications and messages could be reproduced even after decades by detectors and e-eyes. Districts should install as many cameras as possible in public places. Timely justice and safety cannot be achieved without efficient advocates and capable judiciaries.
- Regarding environment, Jammu & Kashmir is indeed paradise, Khusrau is true even today. For this sector, if we can restore the running water channels which used to provide fresh water to hundreds of villages for drinking, agriculture and for construction. This can be achieved with little investment and in association with environment enthusiasts and lovers. The banks of these water channels need to be guarded and protected at vulnerable places. One school should adopt one water canal for monitoring and guidance can be sought from Chairman NLCO.
- Two lane roads with proper stopping having shelter facilities should be made on priority in each district. The construction agencies including BDOs/ PWD/R&B/ CPWD/PDD/ JS/IT should work in coordination for any construction and its utility and connect them with technical institutions. These offices should be in Polytechnic colleges and students need to work on live projects. Even link roads should be double lane and NIT has good expertise in the area.
- Commerce and industries should have following priorities in the district (i) Village & Small Enterprises (ii) Industries other than Village & Small Enterprises (iii) Trade & Commerce (iv) Mineral Development (v) Registration of Partnership Firms. This will address unemployment issue to some extent.
- Overhaul Social Welfare institutions. Take guidance from social science experts. Social welfare means an ongoing attempt to take care of particular needs identified in the society. This means that it can be designed as a systematic set of programs that assist the population in different stages of their lives but, that system comes from an effort and intention to provide that social welfare situation on the first place. Political governance, legal governance, economic governance, and corporate governance are the most well known and in fact, these subtitles overlap with each other.
- Use bottom up approach as is being done in institution of high repute. Citizen-Centric administration means placing citizens at the centre of modern public administration. This can be achieved by addressing the immediate concerns of citizens i.e. transparency, efficiency, stability and continuity in the governance systems. Take good people on board.
The good governance provides a very important set of pillars, which are effectual in the design of an economy. The four of them are the most useful ones for every economy: transparency, accountability, rule of law and participation. For achieving above goals, all institutions of higher learning should extend support to district administration for establishing the houses of wisdom. Even educated individuals and groups of people in the district can extend support in making their district a model of good governance. The competition between districts through the Good Governance Index will be of great benefit to the general public of Jammu and Kashmir. It is indeed a good initiative.
(The author is presently teaching Nanotechnology at NIT Srinagar).