Over the past two decades Jammu and Kashmir has suffered and is still continuously bearing the brunt of the ongoing conflict, the consequences of which are already on the ground. Economic down turn of the people of Kashmir Valley has been observed over these years.
Overhauling of the macro and micro economy of the valley has been done to a certain extent by the state, the New Delhi administration and non-governmental organization too contributed to Kashmir to some extent. However, till date, what has been seen is that the government and non-government organizations have worked and stressed on the development of rural areas of the valley. The reason why they are doing so apparently seems is politicians are safeguarding their vote banks and non-governmental organizations are showcasing rural Kashmir to the world.
Till date I haven’t come across any single organization working for the betterment of urban poor here. It somehow has gone out of INGOs and NGOs minds or they have ignored it on the pretext that the urban space, to them, gives a notion of developed space, which if seen on the ground defies it, and needs no focus.
In the Srinagar district alone, over the years there has been much rise in urban poverty. In Srinagar the majority of populace manages their livelihood from the top level of the economic activity, service sector, which these days is hard to get owing to the global economic melt down. Of course there would be people who would have a desire to shift to primary sector for his/her bread and if probably butter as well but they don’t have resources, particularly land, at their disposal. Urbans are left with no choice but to survive on service sector.
With the increase in the urbanization, the rural population comes to the city and occupies the urban space and strains the limited resources available here. The resources, opportunities and facilities meant for the city dwellers are taken over by someone else which, then gives rise to the urban poverty.
There is ample place in the city, particularly the downtown areas, where every next house suffers due to unemployment, underemployment and lack of resources. Most of these families live jointly to share their income which on an average would not be over 2 USD per day and on this meager income are over four to five dependants in a family.
The need of the hour is not only to create opportunities for the city dwellers but also to augment their income; financial assistance through soft and hassle free loans need to be provided to them.
To tackle urban poverty there is a dire need of setting of a micro finance institution, which would focus on the urban poor and would identify the needy persons who have a positive bent of mind to work for them self and for the society at large.
This is no way should be taken as a step of dividing rural and urban populace but it should be looked in a positive framework. If proper and on time steps are not taken then there are more chances that this divide would increase and is going to have serious repercussions in near future. To avoid such a situation the issue of urban poverty needs to be taken seriously.
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—About our writer:
Mr. Bilal Hussain, 28, was born and raised in Srinagar. He went to the CASET Experimental High School, and the S.P. College, Srinagar. He has a Master's degree in Finance and Control (MFC) from the Kashmir University. He worked as a financial writer and analyst for a telecom start-up company before joining Greater Kashmir staff as a writer/sub-editor in 2007. His personal interests are reading, writing, and internet surfing.
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