The news report about the plunder of the forests in Budgam district calls for a meaningful deliberation. By saying meaningful deliberation, one doesn’t want to sound pedantic, patronizing or alarming; it has a given set of meaning. Just to place it in a perspective, a little bit of time travel into the past. In 1990s when things fell part and the system, whatever it was, went into hiding, Kashmir witnessed a deluge of irresponsible behavior. People in their ordinary and official engagements fell way behind what was expected of them, and when asked for a reason, it was invariably ‘prevailing circumstances’. The explanation was stretched to such obnoxious and bizarre limits that even for an act that was not even remotely connected with the impact-of-the-situation, the stock line was shamelessly used. It served as a smokescreen for our bureaucrats, officials, teachers, students and whom not. All the inadequacies and corruptions of thought and action hid behind this thick screen. That time, though the explanations were known to be wrong, but were not questioned the way they should have been. The result of this was that we suffered in every department of the life. Our economy got a beating. Our education went down the tubes. Out society went week in its foundation. We, as a people, became corrupt and incompetent. And as a result of this all, our human and natural resources depleted. By throwing those explanations we ultimately harmed none but ourselves. In the situation that has obtained now there is every likelihood of us relapsing into the same ugly zone of self-harm. The plunder of forests in the Budgam district happening because there is no vigil and the system that is entrusted with the job has gone missing is just an ominous indicator. This cannot be a singular happening. The worry is that much must be happening that would become known only later, and by then the damage would be done. The question that bobs up is this; if our individual lives make a way through the times of crisis, why does our collective responsibly go missing in such circumstances. That is for us as a people. But here the question immediately points towards the government. If the police and other security agencies can be bolstered and provided with all kinds of information and apparatus to fight a situation in the length and breadth of the valley, why cannot the same degree of seriousness be shown to take care of the rest of the matters. Is it politics, that too power politics, that alone matters. One doesn’t want to ask for a weird thing like why schools and offices are not routinely working. But one does feel the urge to ask the government which is so busy with security arrangements to spare some time and energy to guard the natural resources that are in a state of threat whenever there is a crisis in the state. Yes, as a people it is our responsibility to save our collective self from getting corrupt, but above all it is the duty of government to guard our forests, water resources and maintain the essential services in the extreme time, as we all are witnessing right now. If a message is sent across that no one can take undue advantage of the situation and no excuse can be accepted that is rooted in this mindset, the damage can be checked to a degree. Secondly, if an investigation is held into the previous years and the areas that mostly get affected by such a situation are identified, some special arrangements can be put in place to prevent it from occurring in future. In case of forests if the technology is really made use of, hardly an area can skip surveillance. The first thing to do is to mentally prepare people that the excuses-of-situation are no way acceptable. The forest divisions must be made responsible for every single scale leaf. Those who are in charge of the area must be taken to task, no wonder if there is a mafia taken fresh roots.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST