ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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JAMMU AND KASHMIR-To Prop the Heavy Top

THE most distinctive feature of the economy of Jammu and Kashmir state is the staggering rise in government expenditure from year to year. The state which used to spend less than Rs 3 crores in the early years after Independence now proposes to spend over Rs 148 crores in a year. This nearly equals the total income of all the people in the state.

Final End of Kashmir Problem

November 10, 1973 owing to increases in costs of raw materials and wages. Dividend was maintained at 20 per cent, but the cover was more than halved. The fall in production was ascribed to 'go-slow' by workmen at Brajrajnagar and Amlai and to acute shortage of water at the former factory. During the current year, the Brajrajnagar mills experienced a power- cut ranging from 40 to 60 per cent, coupled with frequent load shedding from April 27 to July 13, and production was affected. Due to inadequate supply of railway wagons, the stock position of bamboo at both the factories has become unsatisfactory and stocks of paper and board have piled up. The price of non-coking coal has increased since the take-over of the management of collieries by the government. Besides, the concession in excise duty on paper available to the Amlai factory has been withdrawn by the last Finance Act. These factors, together with the soaring prices of raw materials, chemicals and other stores as also salary and wages, arc likely to affect the current year's working results of the company. The renovation and modernisation programme of the power plant an! the pulp section at Brajrajnagar is in progress. Owing to certain disputes with the MP government on the question of royalty, the company has net beenpermitted to extract bamboos felled during 1972-71 and is facing shortage of bamboos. Panafrican Paper Mills (E A), set up in Kenya in technical and financial collaboration with the company. is likely to go into production in 1974. The company will have to subscribe additional equity shares in ruppee upto an amount equivalent to US dollars 1.4 million because the cost of the project has gone up.

Mythology of Muslim Politics in India

Mythology of Muslim Politics in India Balraj Puri "THE days of religion-oriented politics are over", fondly asserts Moin Shakir in the beginning of the book under review. "The vigour of the so-called two nations theory and the idea of the economic emancipationof the Muslims from the Hindus has gone", he adds.

JAMMU AND KASHMIR-Jan Sangh s Decline Creates Political Vacuum

can be realised only if the whole complement of recommended inputs and practices is adhered to, But, in view of the high cost of this complement, the farmer may not adopt the whole of it. In fact, in none of the areas has the farmer adopted the recommended fertiliser doses. To the extent that the net margin

KASHMIR- Competing Claims of Religion, Region and Backwardness-Based Identities

to rumours among others, the Chief Minister and some of his colleagues own such property, Perhaps more will be heard of these transactions in the coming months.

KASHMIR-Must History Repeat Itself

the radical pretensions of the Congress; it is the second task which is to be seriously carried out. Land reform in favour of the tenant and the sharecrop per simply does not square with the new agricultural strategy

KASHMIR- Prolonging Dependence


two crops, and later even three. The Kerala Land Development Corporation, a fully state-owned company, has drawn up a scheme to raise two crops and the Agricultural Refinance Corporation has agreed to refinance it.

KASHMIR-Neglect of Language Policy

Neglect of Language Policy Balraj Puri RELIGION and language are the two main focal points of popular aspirations in India. Failure to satisfy them or re- concile such aspirations of different groups has been a major cause of political tensions in the country. In the case -of Jammu and Kashmir state, attention is certainly paid to the religious susceptibilities of its people. But like any other people, religion does not exhaust all the emotional urges of the Kashmiri people. Kashmiri Muslims, for instance, are not merely Muslims, they are also Kashmiris. Likewise Dogra Hindus are Hindus as well as Dogras. What stands in the way of full satisfaction of the aspirations of the people and their integration into a harmonious composite whole is the language policy of the state.

KASHMIR-Basis for a New Edifice

KASHMIR Basis for a New Edifice? LAST month's civic elections gave Sheikh Abdullah the opportunity to win an election in Kashmir after 21 years. Though the issues and the size of the electorate and the constituencies were different on the two occasions, the results were almost similar. In 1951, the Sheikh led the campaign for the election to the Constituent Assembly as a hero of the freedom movement with total control over state power. His party won all the seats in the Valley without any contest. In the recent civic elections, he led the campaign of the United Front as a rebel and again swept the polls. The Front won all the 28 seats of the Srinagar Municipality, 11 of them unopposed, all the 11 seats in Sopore, nine of the 11 seats in Baramulla and eight out of nine seats in Anantnag. The three successful candidates who defied the massive pro- Abdullah wave included two Sikhs in two predominantly minority constituencies in Haramulla and one Jamaat-e- Islanu candidate in Anantnag, who won by a narrow margin of 13 votes.

Restructuring the Subcontinent

Restructuring the Subcontinent Balraj Puri THE widely held view that the emergence of Bangladesh marks a reversal of the process that started in the subcontinent in 1947 is an oversimplification of the momentous phenomenon. For, the division of the subcontinent, ostensibly on religious basis, has in no way been undone. All that has happened is that a part of the subcontinent has been further divided; this time on the basis of language.

JAMMU AND KASHMIR-Who Are the Gujars

JAMMU AND KASHMIR Who Are the Gujars?
Balraj Puri AFTER Kashmiris and Dogras, Gujars are the mast numerous community of the state. Though scattered all over the state, they are a distinct linguistic, cultural and ethnic group. In the peculiar communal, regional and cultural composition of the .state, Gujars hold the most crucial balance.

Ham Handed in Kashmir

Ham Handed in Kashmir Balraj Puri B N MULLIK's book on Kashmir is not just a work of an intelligence officer. In fact, he restrains himself from divulging any startling secrets which he must have possessed as the Director of Intelligence Bureau. He is more interested in interpreting "the events as seen, experienced and comprehended" by him; and he. purports to expound a Kashmir policy, describing at the same time how he tried to work it out.

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