Raess Mir
In the midst of economic slowdown across the globe, India has vibrant economy with World Bank and IMF is optimistic about its growth. The Government of India has also launched various schemes and policies in anticipation of the same. Schemes like ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ have immensely helped the growth in the economy. Schemes like PM Jan Dhan Yojana, Atal Pension Yojna and Suraksha Beema Yojna have been launched for financial inclusion and social security. Various schemes financed and sponsored by Central as well as State Government have been launched covering all the focus areas. Important to note are the schemes that focus on poverty alleviation, women empowerment, child development, agriculture and border area development. The end state of all the schemes is aimed at generation of employment, improvement in quality of life, reduction of economic inequality and human deprivation. In addition, these schemes are also helpful in creation of basic infrastructure and assets important for rural development.
After abrogation of article 370, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir released a list of schemes for dissemination to the entire populace of UT for benefit of all those in need. The constitution of India is now equally applicable in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir after and now people can take benefits of all these schemes as mentioned in the list. The list released by Jammu and Kashmir government contains 86+ schemes which come under various ministries viz Ministry of Rural Development, Finance, Housing, Urban Affairs, Youth Affairs etc. This was one of the first milestone decisions after articles 35A and 370 were abrogated towards overall development of the people. The people can now easily get the list of schemes comprising all 80+ schemes from www.dbfjk.gov.in and accordingly avail the ones they are eligible for. The inhabitants of the region also include a large population of skilled weavers and textile product designers and thus is an ideal base for setting up of more textile units. The present-day rising demands of industrial processes can easily be met by optimum utilisation of traditional skills of the people in craftsmanship. The tourism industry still remains an unexposed sphere of development despite the natural beauty and picturesque locations. While the Kashmir Valley has abundant gardens and lakes, the region of Jammu attracts tourists to its beautiful temples. Owing to the climatic conditions of the region, horticulture and floriculture are best suited in the region. Flowers of Kashmir are supplied in domestic as well as international market and horticulture remains the backbone of rural economy, also providing employment to a large chunk of population. The industrial policy of J & K presents lucrative incentives and single window clearance mechanism thus enabling the ease of doing business. The revised land laws also benefit the institutions pertaining to those that promote healthcare facilities and education infrastructure. To empower the power infrastructure of the UT, the Central Government has also given nod to power projects worth Rs 54000 Crore. Despite such magnificent planning and execution of the above-mentioned schemes, the grievances of people, particularly those from economically weaker categories still remains high. This can be attributed to various reasons like lack of awareness and lengthy process of documentation.
Indian Army in all these years has been very instrumental in spreading awareness amongst locals with respect to the schemes sponsored by both Central as well as State government. Adoption of innovative methods can be brought in place to create awareness about these schemes. One of the ways could be compilation of all the schemes in the form of an e-booklet which can then be circulated to all the government and privately-run schools through proper channel including Chief education officer and zonal education officer. The same approach can be adopted in vocational training Centres and colleges too. This will ensure that benefits of the scheme are percolated down to the intended beneficiaries thereby enabling them to avail the best out of suitable schemes. These books are being distributed to government departments, people’s representatives, nambardars and PRIs so that every individual affected by the same can reap the benefits. Various NGOs and volunteers working with tribal organisations in remote regions of the UT has been contacted and affected people are being made aware of benefits of these schemes by door-to-door campaigns.
Approx ₹ 2 Lacs Cr are spent by the government on 100 flagship programs aimed at public services and out of them 10 big programs to include MNREGA and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan account for bulk of the resource. So, there are 90 other small programs which soak up administrative capacity which significantly affects the implementation of bigger schemes. The policies are formulated in ministries but executed at state and district level are the essential deliverables. The administration might not always know about all the schemes to be implemented in the respective district. Sidestepping the smaller schemes to keep focus on larger schemes can help the administration in implementing the bigger plans.
There is an obvious necessity for better coordination between Centre and State governments as customized policies can work better than homogenous ones in a few States. To sum up, better synergy, solidarity and adoption of innovative awareness methods among government, NGOs, civil society and private entities in designing a public policy is the need of the hour in order to improve the transparency, quality and impact of a policy or scheme for making a perceptible difference in the life of the common man.
