WHY #UNI4KASHMIR?

The rudimentary shifts dictated by the Fourth Industrial Revolution has posed newer challenges to societies across the globe. Dr Mehboob Makhdoomi, who was educated in the West and worked in the consultative educational sector, is planning a university with peoples’ cooperation to address Kashmir’s knowledge deficit. In this write-up, he explains the motives, intentions and rationale for the initiative

- Dr Mehboob Makhdoomi

Jammu and Kashmir is a politically turbocharged region where every activity is looked at with suspicion. To make it worse, there are two competing and fiercely contesting narratives that compel people, to compartmentalize those who proclaim to do ‘something’ for the people - in one bracket or the other, at the psychological level. This is not the fault of people though. We have been betrayed time and again by such ‘messiahs’, and these people speak from experience. Fortunately, it is the politicians who have hoodwinked us till now, not anyone in the name of education, which is an apolitical tool to bring social good. This is the raison d’être of this write-up.

I have dreamt of coming up with an international standard university in Kashmir. I could have done the same by accepting investors without any hassle, but I chose no owners for this project. Not that I am against privatization, but if the sole objective of such a venture is profit-making, the superlative quality that has been envisioned will surely take a hit. This is why a capitalistic model may not be germane here. One may have called it a gift from this generation to the next, but I find ‘gift’ to be a misleading term simply because it is not; we owe it to them.

2 KEY REASONS

There are two reasons why I am determined to go for it, taking a personal risk.