Part II | My Sopore, My El Dorado

Three “Rs” have been associated with Sopore: Rub (mud/slush),Reda (horse cart) & Ropai (money). For the first one, people of town can’tbe blamed. The apathy and neglect of successive governments has been explicit.”Reda” was directly linked to economic conditions and is not a bad mode oftransportation in small towns if government ensures cleanliness. Riding horsecarts is a craze in big national and international cities besides isenvironment friendly. Money now has wider circulation particularly post liberalizationand not specific to Sopore town.

Sopore town faced the brunt of abnormal situationparticularly post 1990s. Some heart wrenching firing incidents and internecinefeuds will continue to haunt the affected families in particular and people oftown in general. This devoured some fertile minds of the town.

   

I hope and expect my town to get its due from the centers ofauthority without any prejudice. Patronage may be missing in absence ofrepresentations but that shouldn’t deprive the town of its inalienable rightsof development as the people of Sopore have always resisted pampering and havehad been preferring to venture in self- reliant economic activities.

I would like to sum up with the quotes from an onlineJapanese video: “When a bowl is broken in Japan, it’s put back together,with the cracks being filled with gold creating a beautiful lining. This is toemphasize the beauty in what was once broken. They believe that when somethinghas suffered damage and has a history, it makes it more beautiful and same goesfor human beings. Everything that you have been through or you are goingthrough doesn’t make your life uglier, broken not beyond repairs. It’s for usto choose to paint or struggle with gold and make it beautiful. We can wearscars proudly as badge of honour. “

What then made the town get relegated to the back & outof reckoning. I would like to narrate an anecdote. Kote Lakhpattown/sub-district in Gujarat State had been an important trading point famousfor maritime activities. The town lost its importance due to earthquake in 1819which changed the course of Indus River and started flowing into Arabian Seafurther north. What is left now is a ghost city of ruins but with magnificentfort surroundings.

Looking at the remains and surroundings, I began lamentingabout the neglect faced by my home town Sopore. The town has had a perfectsetting of a prosperous location which unfortunately has had remained out ofthe radar of development.

River Jhelum not only runs through the town but has beentaking care of its economic needs since times. Its contiguity with famousWullar Lake makes a perfect ambience for fish farming and other aquaproduction, transportation and tourism. Great Budshah’s masterpiece Zaingaircanal having passed the tests of time continues to cater to the irrigationalneeds of the peripheries of the town in particular and can be the Nile of thetown but for administrative apathy.

The plentiful fruit orchards in and around the town gave thetown a national/international identity besides has been its economic backbonebut for its rural concentration could not catch up with carpet/handicraftindustry and continues to remain out of formal industry loop. Accessibility toforests had created a vibrant economic activity in the town but with passage oftime it was relegated to folklore only. Mills/factories, though novelties ofthe time, gave the town a cosmopolitan outlook but could not sustain for itsfailure to adapt to changes.

Activities of major political parties of the time viz MuslimConference, Mahaz e Raishumari is reflected in the political maturity of thetown. Self-reliance has been the hallmark of people of the town in absence ofgovernment patronage and have proved it by excelling in diversified fieldsdespite adversities.

What then reversed the fortunes of the town and itsdisillusionment with the respective governments?

Administrative apathy and development are mutually exclusiveand the town is a perfect example of the same. The representation from the townin various governments could not fructify in the development of the area on theexpected lines at the particular times besides eluded influencing positions tothe people of the town. This resulted into a fragile bond between the rulingclass and the public. The neglect and irrelevance of the town before the rulingelites has had been insidiously making inroads into the psychic of the peopleof town. The problem got compounded due to erroneous judgment of thedisillusionment and resentment which resulted into perpetual antagonism and avicious cycle of mistrust.

People have been experiencing catharsis through generationseven leading to bloody wars but the form and degree varies. Jamat-e-Islami,then confined to running schools, started gaining social acceptance and regardfor their service in educational field. Concomitantly their religious seminarsattracted substantial people followed by their foray into political activities.Rest is history.

Loss of space by the ruling parties created sense of neglectamong people which was reinforced by widening gap between the two. Thisconcomitantly resulted into sense of alienation as jittery governments startedgetting misled by biased inputs from interested groups remaining oblivious ofground realities. The gap started getting filled by vibrant groups.

The town started witnessing a silent exodus of economicallyand professionally comfortable folk as a result of which the economicactivities of the town, particularly of those at the edges, took a severebeating. It simultaneously eased out the pressure on the governmentfunctionaries in view of absence of the pressure groups of the time.

Town remained a flashpoint for a considerable time post 1990which did have a lasting impact on the socio-economic and socio-psychologicalaspects of the people.

People in influential positions of successive governments,post 1996 elections, allegedly resorted to accommodate their associates inevery sphere but Sopore was not even in the periphery of reckoning and evenremained out of special recruitment drives/schemes. Cynicism started creepinginto the minds of people about alleged selective boycott when proxy voting inCentral and South Kashmir were attributed to a particular party. Hithertounknown political figures became representatives of the town though theirassociation with the town, in particular, allegedly remains wanting.

Town reserves the inalienable right to be part of theholistic development which has to take place without fear and favourirrespective of dissent of opinion. Making the town a victim of suspicion orcoercing its people into submission is unfair, lest it creates a sense ofservility.

Ghalib na kar huzoor mein tu baar baar arz

Zaahir hey tera haal sab un par kahey bager

Vibrant and credible voices, closely connected to grassrootslevel, are needed as boardroom policies are vulnerable to errors of judgmentsin view of lack of “grounding in actual knowledge”.

Dak Bungalow-centric ideas and activities of some civilgroups invariably prove time buying tactics with Micawberish hopes insidiouslyleading to complacency thus fraying the ingenuity in vivacious and creativegroups of the society.

It would be apt to sum up with quotes from Tale of TwoCities by Charles Dickens; “It was the best of times, it was the worst oftimes, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was theepoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light,it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going directto heaven, we were all going direct to other way”.

Sopore town having experienced the priorities of successivegovernments towards the town & the ensuing impact on overall development ofthe town & its peripheries, would better explore options instead ofsquandering time & energy after government functionaries. The town isbestowed with flourishing private entrepreneurship & business activitiesbesides huge amount of money remains deposited in banks in absence ofinvestment opportunities.

The town has the honour to be the ancestral place ofrenowned medicos & erudite educationists, some of whom have preferred tostay put in the town.

The basic resource, therefore, is available but needs properchanneling & utilization. A group of sincere, apolitical, competent peoplewith due approval of the people of town is to be constituted.

• The committee constituted after fulfilment of formalities,can rope in well to do families of the town, medicos, professionals, whereverthey presently reside; with a lucid blue print of the agenda for sustainabledevelopment of the town. The blue print needs to be professional, specific, andpracticable after proper analysis under SWOT (strengths, weaknesses,opportunities, threats).Availability of Internet & social media willfacilitate communication & contacts.

I would like to refer to the role of society to substantiateabout the possibilities which not only acts as a catalyst of inspiration butaffirms its realisation:

A group of 10, who got together in 1863, contributed andcollected 7305/= to start Kodava education, which became Coorg Education Fundwhich represents foresight & service rendered over the years helping many aKodava to blossom & contribute to society. Kodavas include field Marshal,Chief Of Army, Generals, Navy Officers, Governors, Ministers, IAS, IFS, VCs, UNexpert players. Academia-industry-Govt partnership has led to the creation ofinfrastructure in Science & Technology like first bioscience & medicaltechnology incubator K-fist (Karnataka funds for improvement of infrastructurein Science & Technology) .

The preference displayed by a society has an indelibleimpact on the psyche of a child. We have enough resources for franchise ofvarious showy activities but hardly cultivate & encourage pressure groupsvis a vis educational development. Unprofessional are allowed to rule the roostat the cost of future generations.

The money accumulated particularly by some Parsi people wasgenerously invested in philanthropic activities. Contribution of Parsis toIndia particularly to Mumbai has been enormous despite having migrated from faroff. Some Parsi families namely Petit, Wadias, Tata’s amassed huge wealthinitially through opium trade. However, they gradually turned to employmentdriven activities by establishing cloth mills-main employment source of thetime to lakhs of people. Interestingly they diverted their wealth subsequentlyto philanthropy & education despite their limited demographic presence.Apparently it was selfless endeavor as it benefited people from allreligions/regions.

Indian Institute of Science, Tata Institute Of FundamentalResearch & the Atomic Energy Commission, Tata Memorial Hospital, TataMemorial Sports Club, Tata Centre for Tropical Diseases J hospital (by SirJamshetji jeejeebhoy), J J Dharamshala (free home for elders first in Asia),Grant Medical college (not on his name),Wells/tanks in Bombay,126 Public Charitiesincluding JJ school of Arts, Mahim Causeways, benevolent & pension fundsare some cases in point. Striking point is their refrain from joining rulingclasses for patronage.

The areas which can be focused upon initially are:

1.            Medicalfacility centres: The committee, in consultation with the doctors from town, toestablish a multi-faculty state-of-art hospital like the one set up by SirGanga Ram in Lahore or Neelofer Hospital in Hyderabad. It can be a combinationof public as well as private facility to make it practicable & sustainablewith proper accommodation facility for attendants outside.

2.            Genuinecentre of excellence & Coaching centre like Super 30 in Bihar. Initialfinancial support to aspiring students.

3.            Establishingof a reading room cum library.Reportedly one was facilitated in the Town Halllong back.My grandfather had set up one opposite Ashpir mosque in his privateproperty under name “Ghani Library” which unfortunately couldn’t sustaindue administrative apathy.

4.            Aquacultureproducts: Sopore has a natural advantage in aqua-production in general &fish production in particular in view of flow of Jhelum river through & theabutting Wular lake besides the expertise of large number of populace. However,the status of an industry eluded it primarily due to illiteracy, poverty, lackof knowledge of latest fisheries technology, lack of proper price for producemainly responsible for slow growth of the trade. Furthermore lack ofinstitutional support both on infrastructure as well as financial front exposedthe basic fishermen folk to exploitation by middle men.

A local cooperative type society akin to “Crocodile Bank” ofChennai and like the initial stages of AMUL etc. may infuse a new life in thetrade. The role of the government shall be limited to facilitatingfinance/seed/netting/boats/dinghies & marketing.To ameliorate the hardshipof fishwives,selling their products with head loads from early morning,interest free loan for procurement of mini load carriers can be facilitated.

A novel method of allotting the part of the canals, runningthrough corresponding villages, is worth exploring. Government can provideseeds etc., the villagers to put proper barricading like meshing to blockcrossing of their reared fish to other parts. The local village levelcommittees to supervise the fishing & the money realized to partly spend onfurther expansion & for other common requirements of the village.

5.            Fruit,particularly apple, continues to be the backbone of the economy of the town,and of its peripheries. Local fruit Mandi needs proper institutionalization byencouraging bona-fide dealers. The challenge has always been proper branding& packaging to ensure marketing of quality product. This direly requiresgovernment intervention for disposal of low grade & damaged fruit.Establishing of state-of-art fruit concentrate plants & purchase by thegovernment will go long way in addressing the issue. For seeking proper rates,availability of affordable cold stores is needed. Doubts about quality ofpesticides, fertilizers continue to haunt the growers. Government shouldinvolve local Mandi authority while allowing sale of pesticides in the market.Mandi should be made extension centre of SKUAST to have hands on orientationabout new methods in agriculture & horticulture. The status of Industrycontinue to elude which impedes its exit from informal sector.

Mandi authorities should make efforts to encourage walnutsuppliers of Kupwara & Bandipora District to route their product throughSopore Mandi by offering genuine price.

6.            Availabilityof toilet facilities at public places: To make it successful the infrastructurefacilities to be allocated to the concerned people associated with theprofession against some security. They in turn shall be allowed to chargenominal price. This not only will be a convenience to public but concurrentlygenerate employment.

The benevolence of the people of town has had been selfless.A single mohalla/community supported the functioning of a Middle school inMuslimpir mohalla way back in 70s when liquidity with commoner was either verylow or negligible. Institutions like Anjuman Moin Ul Islam, Muslim EducationalTrust are cases in point which reportedly had been financed by locals both inmoney & kind. With newer middle class, wide circulation of money,remittances from abroad etc.; creating a corpus fund through private financingis affordable not to forget the contribution under Corporate SocialResponsibilities of big houses. These business houses without complaintsfinance sports clubs, political parties thus hopefully may not shirk fromfinancing the general causes of the town.

The town has a remarkable past in sports particularlyfootball. Good number of players from the town have played at national level buttheir achievements in sports couldn’t correspond with their job opportunitiesmostly due to lack of educational credentials. A credible professional coachingforum with due priority on concomitant education is doable. This can develop acompetitive spirit in our youth & can take the name of town to national& international forums.

The factors elucidated above seem doable for our town &prudent to start with. “God helps those who help themselves”.

Men at sometime are masters of their fates:

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,  but in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

(concluded)

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