Fulfilling globalized aspirations of youth is my mission: Omar

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Autonomy addresses governances, identity & border issues

Minster, Omar Abdullah Wednesday said that restoring autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir is not about creating a sovereign State within a nation, but addressing and accommodating diversity not only of identity but also of economy of development.

Delivering a lecture on basic ingredients for peace, progress and prosperity of Jammu and Kashmir at Amity University, Noida, the Chief Minister said re-structuring of political arrangements is required neither as a sentimental sop nor as a concession to secessionist propagation. “Autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir had been designed to address genuine issues of identity, borders and governance in a consensual democracy. It prevents these issues from escalating and taking the form of nation, territory and statehood which sow seeds of secession”, he maintained.

Giving brief account of the historical background of autonomous status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir in 1951 as a result of which the State enjoys its own constitution, flag and residuary powers, Mr. Omar said the basic contours of autonomy worked out in 1951 were designed to preserve the identity of the people. “Between then and now much of this status has been eroded. This has impacted everything from political discourse to personal conduct, from economy to emotions, from society to sensibilities and from institutions to ideologies”, he added.

Mr. Omar said that today retaining some form of sovereignty is required to empower the people of Jammu and Kashmir not only to get a fair share of national power and resources but also to be able to withstand and benefit from the new economic regime of globalization.

The Chief Minister said, “much has been said about the failure of successive governments in Jammu and KashmirJammu and Kashmir. True as that may be, the fact is that the Indian civil society as well as the local civil society of Jammu and Kashmir has not played its role in bringing about peace and prosperity in J&K. The political distancing of Jammu and Kashmir from the Indian State is directly linked to the disengagement of the civil society”. and also the national governments in delivering the goods in

Mr. Omar said that J&K has never occupied the mental space of the Indian civil society quite in the same way as it has in the political arena. “It needs to do so now”, he added. He said for the vast majority of people in India, it is either a beautiful place to visit or a dangerous place not to be visited.

We have to find ways and means for the Indian civil society to engage with and own up Kashmir, Kashmiris and Kashmiriyat. It is the civil society more than the Indian State that needs to introspect and start the progress of engagement at different level”, he said and added that the fact is that during the Mumbai bomb blast the whole nation and every citizen of India rallied around but this has never happened in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, ‘wrecked as we have been tragedy after tragedy’. He said, “all of us to a greater extent, be it in Srinagar or siliguri, have a stake in Mumbai – a national stake, a material stake, a business stake – but in Jammu and Kashmir all that the civil society of India has is some sort of an emotional stake. While we value the emotion, it is not sufficient, we need to go beyond the emotional equity”.

Identifying five basic ingredients of peace, prosperity and progress in Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Minister enumerated these as restoration of political structure, revival of civil society, re-construction of economy, reforming the government and rally the youth. He said creation of stakes for and of the civil society in Jammu and Kashmir is important adding that the Indian business fraternity must invest in Jammu and Kashmir of course for profit but at the same time to have stake in peace and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir. He said one of the sure ways to built stakes for all in the system is to ensure that the J&K economy is a vibrant one with high and diversified growth. He said economy needs to rebuilt in terms of physical infrastructure and in terms of its structure that is based on its own resources.

“Apart from reconstruction the economy of J&K needs to be re-positioned by creating an environment of providing right kind of public policy support in the fields of infrastructure development, economic regulations and skill development”, Mr. Omar Said. He said the economy of Jammu and Kashmir is faced with two distinct problems of the generic and specific nature adding that the set of generic problems are faced by most states while the specific problems in J&K are arising out of civil strife and militancy. He said first set of problems has to be dealt with through a package of economic reforms and second through a set of integrated reconstruction initiatives to create self sustaining jobs in private sector with start off help from the government.

The Chief Minister said that the key ingredient of bringing about prosperity in J&K is to improve the employability of the youth adding that J&K is a predominantly a service economy as such it is important to focus on the professionalization of services.

Mr. Omar said that in order to reform the functioning of the government the mindset of the government functionary needs to be changed inculcating the spirit that government is not in power to administer but to deliver. He said bureaucrat-centric mood of administration requires to be changed to a legislator-oriented form of governance to ensure administrative authority is made subservient to the development functionality of the government.

Saying that youth of Jammu and Kashmir like other young people are confronted with social, economic, gender and environmental problems, Mr. Omar said that in the existing political system they have so far perceived no leadership on the issues that concern them as such, they are less politically engaged, exhibiting, less social trust or confidence in the government.

“My generation should not expect the establishment to address, let alone fix, the sobering problems that we have inherited, unless we start participating in the nation’s political process, and learn to flex our generational muscle. The new leadership that has emerged in J&K needs a new following to be able to deliver. This is the key ingredient”, he asserted. He said if the new generation is rallied to participate it will bring about the minimization of ethnic, class, regional and ideological distinctions that have independently and collectively a major bearing on the core of the Kashmir issue.

Mr. Omar said, “it is my mission to fulfill the globalised aspirations of the youth of my state in a manner that is consistent with local social sensibilities. To be sure, the younger generation of Kashmiris is bicultural: a citizen of Kashmir and the World. It is the leveraging of this fact that will integrate J&K with the rest of the world.

The Chief Minister added, “to be honest with you I don’t see myself only as the Chief Minister of J&K, I see myself as the "generational spokesman” who is here to articulate the aspirations of the young men and women in their 30s and 40s and set in systems to fulfill those aspirations.

“Finally, the rallying the GenX is required to change the system. Only the new generation can put in place a new value system that is based on integrity; professional integrity; intellectual integrity; personal integrity and ideological integrity”, he maintained.