Mufti govt has ignored four major sectors: Mir
Seeks boost in productivity, review of import policy
The incumbent government led by Mufti Muhammad Sayeed has abandoned all four major sectors of economic development of the state, which, if given focused attention, could make Jammu and Kashmir self-reliant. These four sectors are handicrafts, saffron, sericulture and walnut.
These views were expressed by Democratic Party Nationalist (DPN) president Ghulam Hassan Mir, who has worked as the Agriculture Minister in Omar Abdullah’s government as well, while talking to us. He has hit out at Mufti government for working on traditional style and believing in ‘political poetry’ only.
“If we want toaddress the unemployment issue in Jammu and Kashmir and not remain dependent on the Centre, the state government has to push for these four sectors which have been put on back burner by the incumbent state government. In India only Jammu and Kashmir has the unique identity of producing these things but have been ignored by both the Government of India and the state government,” Mir said.
He termed Prime Minister’s Rs 80,000-crore economic package as continuation of earlier packages. “A sustainable economic growth is required and it is not possible without attending and focusing on the four things,” he said.
Giving an overview of these four sectors, Mir said J&K is the only state in the country where high quality saffron is produced and the market is the rest of the country. “Apart from J&K, only two places in the world — Iran and Spain — produce saffron and India imports from these countries. If we put a break on import and focus on increasing the production in the state, like what previous government in the state did in the form of Saffron mission, we could play an important role in the economic growth of the country,” he said.
Similarly, handicrafts industry has the quality of involving people at mass level. “Carpet weaving and handloom is an art adopted by people of the state for the past many decades but now the government is hardly interested in improving this sector,” the former agriculture minister said.
On sericulture sector, Mir is annoyed with the government as he believes that good work done by the previous government in this sector has been damaged. “We have the potential of producing high quality silk and market is also available but nothing is being done. Due to our efforts in the previous government thrust was brought back on sericulture. India is importing it from China but not doing enough to produce within the country,” he added.
He said the state produces best quality walnut but still it is being imported by California. “We need to review the import policy and push for our own production,” Mir said, adding that mere sloganeering will not help J&K to get sustainable economic growth.
