The township though not strictly a Kashmiri Pandit colony, is largely inhabited by them. Kashmiri Pandits, Brahmins of the Shaivite Saraswat community, have been the original inhabitants of the valley. They are the only remaining Kashmiri Hindu community native to Kashmir before very large numbers got converted to Islam under the influence of Sufi preachers from Central Asia and Persia in 14th century.
Their population in the valley has been declining steadily. In 1947 they formed only 6% of the population of the valley and by 1950 it declined further to 5% mainly because of the uncompensated land reforms policy, unsettled nature of the accession, and economic decline. Their population in the 1981 census was around 1, 25, 000 and by 1990 it had gone up to around 1,65,000. The militancy of 1989 forced a large number of them to migrate out of their havens in the valley to Jammu or the NCR. All of them had houses of their own with some land for cultivation before leaving their beautiful abode. Their numbers in the valley have become abysmally small with only around 3,500 without any seeming increase.
Around 60,000 Kashmiri families are today still registered as migrants. They are predominantly Pandits but also include Sikhs and Muslims. In the initial years these unfortunate families had a harrowing time in makeshift camps in Muthi, Purkhoo, Butta Nagar and near Jagti village on outskirts of Jammu. Ultimately in 2012 the J & K government allotted 4,224 two-room flats to them in Jagti Township, near Nagrota in Jammu. At present it has around 20,000 residents living there. Additionally, they get a cash relief of Rs 2,500 per member (Rs 10,000 maximum for a family) and 9 kgs of ration per month.
The team of GHHP went to the township after informing the residents with high BP or diabetes mellitus with or without pre-existent diabetes to register with our representatives for the Healthy Heart Camp on 29th and 30th January 2021. The venue was Govt Middle School and it was done in collaboration with Aman Movement and Helpline Humanity, NGO based in Jagti.
As you enter the township, one is struck by the facial and body language of the people walking up and down. Majority of the people are elderly with sadness and isolation looming large on their faces. They come mostly from villages of different districts of the valley and only small numbers from the Srinagar city.
We examined 210 subjects but got complete data of 143 individuals which has been analysed. Eighty percent patients were in the age groups of 40 to 79 years with 51% females. Almost all were Kashmiri speaking, with one third of them un-employed. Thirty-eight percent of the persons were below the poverty line with incomes less than Rs 15,000 per month. Their physical activity levels in general were moderate with 60% spending more than 30 minutes on walks. Consequently 73% were overweight and one third being obese based upon the body mass index (BMI). Majority of persons seen by us were non-smokers (81%)