With Kashmir’s political class reduced to “house guests”, provided with “CDs of Hollywood movies” and offered “bread of their choices”, in the Hotel Corporation of India owned 5-star Centaur Lakeview Hotel in Srinagar for over two months now, the government announced the Block Development Council (BDC) elections. Slated for October 24, the exercise is aimed at electing chairpersons for Jammu and Kashmir’s 310 BDCs – 168 of them in Kashmir. Unlike Panchayats’, this election is supposed to be on party basis.
Ideally, it is the easiest election that Kashmir can ever have. The entire electorate – elected Panchs and Sarpanchs – are living in five hugely guarded hotels in Srinagar within a radius of two sq kms, for the last more than nine months. The number is so thin that one can have a one-on-one meeting with almost everybody. Given the Kashmir situation, however, they are unlikely to be disturbed as the entire political class is in jail. The absence of NC and PDP – the main stakeholders of Kashmir mandate till August 5 - may eventually encourage these chosen people to have the BDC bosses within their own flock.
The BDC polls would be the second milestone in creating the Panchayat Raj System in Jammu and Kashmir, a state downgraded to a Union Territory (UT) in August. Of the three tiers of this grassroots development set-up, the elections to the basic tier – the Panchayats, was the 9-phase crucial exercise that concluded in December 2018. This “bloodless” exercise was the key highlight in pre-August Kashmir.
Denne historien er fra October 06-12, 2019-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Denne historien er fra October 06-12, 2019-utgaven av Kashmir Life.
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Before The Kabul Retreat
Described as the ‘Graveyard of Empires’, Afghanistan was always termed to be at peace when it was at war. But the land-locked desert country that was always in turmoil and one of the worst targets of the Great Game suffered immensely throughout, especially in the last 40 years, Masood Hussain writes
FINGERS CROSSED
Almost everybody in academia and politics that Khalid Bashir Gura spoke to, the response over Kabul happens was simple – wait and watch
Parliamentary Committee In Srinagar
The visiting 28-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs have had detailed interactions with top civil administration and discussed developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a 4-day visit. Congress leader and MP Anand Sharma is heading the committee.
MUSIC IN MUD HOUSE
Deep into north Kashmir, Faheem Mir meet a small community that sings and lives on folk music but is facing a tense situation in the last few years
THE KABUL SPILLOVER?
Security experts are divided over the possible impact of the Kabul situation on Kashmir. But the dramatic Taliban triumph has altered the region’s geopolitics, for the time being, writes Riyaz Wani
Durga Bhawan At Katra
To enhancing facilities for the convenience of the Vaishno Devi pilgrims, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation for the Durga Bhawan, a high utility pilgrim-centric facility worth Rs 24.4 crore. The facility will accommodate 4000 pilgrims.
Women Empowerment
In the first, 480 talented girls from Jammu and Kashmir were included in the degree and diploma courses of the Pragati Scholarship. Jammu and Kashmir has also got nine scholarships under the Saksham Scheme for Persons with Disabilities.
‘SOME HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT IS THE OUTCOME OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN KASHMIR STAND-OFF'
Foreign policy expert and editor of HardNews magazine, Sanjay Kapoor believes that Taliban 2.0 has more legitimacy unlike in the past as it had signed a deal with the US and negotiated with other countries of the region, but the final verdict can be passed only after it manages ticklish issues involving half of its population, the women
Boredom Is Creative?
Getting bored is not as boring as it gets, writes Azra Hussain
LG In Bangus
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Bungus Awaam Mela amidst grand arrangements for village games, exhilarating local performances, and other activities to celebrate the 75th year of Independence.
