The land known for its beauty and the people independent for its survival have now
been paralysed. Rich in resources, heritage, economy, beauty, knowledge and
literature, people of the valley are victims of wrong policies of the so called
representatives , Noor UL Shahbaz
Noor UL Shahbaz
In a fruitful conversation with my conscious friend Mr. Arif Ahmad Sheikh about the natural resources in our beloved land, he termed sufferings of common kashmiri people as the result or an outcome of “policy paralysis”. The land known for its beauty and the people independent for its survival have now been paralysed. Rich in resources, heritage, economy, beauty, knowledge and literature, people of the valley are victims of wrong policies of the so called representatives and from decades we are suffering and are hit hard towards the wall, no one ready to listen to the woes. Detortion of the overall image of Kashmiri from each side has bought us to the stage where we are unable to identify ourselves or relate ourselves towards the enriching immediate past. Coming to my topic “policy paralysis” for records, I am writing this article in a winter season, thus I must act, think and react taking into consideration my own state of affairs. Winters of Kashmir are widely known when temperature cool down up to -10 and so the preparations demand extra care and on hand arrangements for warm conditions inside our homes for our families particularly old aged parents, children. One of the traditional practices of people living in Kashmir was to use the firewood in a traditional way of using it in “daan/dambur”. The advantages or I can say the survival used to benefit in many ways cooking food, warm water, maintain the room temperature where all family members used to sit. The firewood collection from the nearby forests was as common and widely recognised practice of all the families.
Man invented fire but firewood is the fuel for that invention as the early man has to use light and heat for his survival. This seasonal practice of collecting firewood was among the good forestry practices. In spite of using and taking benefit from this natural resource “forest” human beings and other living creatures get pure oxygen from it, and there was no scarcity of it in earliest time in spite of the practice of collecting firewood. But today the practice is different, the whole world is pressing hard to maintain the quality of air when there is a maximum decline in using forest firewood. The state authorities have put a strict nod on the practice of local people to use their natural resource, on the other hand making us more and more reliant on the practice of buying the LPG for domestic purposes. On the one hand the deep forests are having bulk quantity of firewood in the form of fallen forest trees, thus of no use.
One must spare some time to dive deep into our natural property often called as green gold and see there the failure of our authorities making their people suffer by their weak policies or as we can say policy paralysis. Does it make any sense by making people as parasites to run the business of capitalists and in then put ban on using the firewood supposed by our Almighty creator to use so. Claiming to be the protector of forests state must give away this policy to prohibit in particular the village people and in general all the human beings. I suggest the authorities to utilise the share of the salary of your upper class officers and employees to plant more and more forest plants that will be the right practice of protective forests. The hoax claims cannot sustain for a long time, this policy paralysis is making people to suffer badly in these winters. The trees in private lands including mulberry trees, apple trees and at some places the chinar etc are being cut by the people for their survival. This is also not a good sign too, and the transformation of policy is need of the hour.
The forest protect laws must not in any way prohibit the people to collect firewood and this issue needs to be dealt seriously by the present time government if they are sincere towards eradication of sufferings of the people. At the same time the liability must also be fixed on the officers that how much new forest plants have been planted (afforest ration). If the people are being pushed to wall what else does it mean than the paralysis of our policy makers and most particularly with regard to the thing which belongs to the people and on which we are humanely dependent. Our fight against the seasonal circumstances depends upon these forests, cool breeze and fresh air in summer and firewood in these winters. Advocating for all this does not mean in any way to allow or permit or give a licence to smugglers who are mercilessly looting this natural treasure, destroying our existence and the existence of all other creatures.
At this point a genuine question or query can be raised against the so called administrators how these pillars of green gold are being mercilessly cut down by engaging into corrupt practices with the protectors of these forests and other agencies of the state. Transparency is such a tool that will help to save our forests and the conscious officers who will feel that they are among us can use their power, knowledge and experience to create a state of affairs so that there will be no harm to our forests and no sufferings for people as well. I suggest that the compulsory regulation must be enacted to take help from the village people to plant more and more forest plants. The free or open forest lands must be converted into dense forest by engaging the local force. Shift from state being the owner of these resources to create a sense of being the responsible owner on to the local people is need of the hour, in addition with reliance on responsibility of “having an obligation” to protect our lives, must be created. People will understand that ‘is it better to pay above one thousand rupees for an LPG or to use wisely and sensibly the good forestry practice. Is it better to fill the pocket of a capitalist and other corrupt administrators who are misleading us to be much more reliant and dependent upon the source which benefits the particular class or to realise our sense of responsibility and create a better, safe and secure environment by becoming the saviours of our human race, other creatures, natural resource (forests) by planting more and more and then using reasonable amount of firewood. That sense of responsibility is the peculiar and precious property of we People.
Noor UL Shahbaz, M.A, LL.M [Gold Medallist],Lecturer in Law & Former Acting Principal at Sopore Law College can be reached at im1415151819@gmail.com
