Following the huge electoral debacle and drubbing in the recently held parliamentary elections, where the National Conference and its ally Congress party failed to even win one single seat in the state, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has made a spate of announcement to bolster his own and governments sagging popularity.
First it was Omars acceptance of the defeat in the elections followed by his appeal to the people of the State to forward their opinion about the shortcomings of his Govt. One does not know what kind of response the Govt got to that initiative and whether the recent policy changes had anything to do with that. But it seems the Govt has moved fast in recent days and weeks to make some important policy decisions. In a major move, the Govt increased the retirement age of State Govt employees from 58 to 60 years. The employees, through their various unions had been pressing for this enhancement in the last many years but the Government did not seem to be interested in this proposal, often citing financial reasons which this initiative would entail. The Govt also argued that such a move would be counter- productive to creating employment opportunities for the young people in the State. But the Govt suddenly seemed to have found some merit in enhancing the retirement age from 58 to 60. The earlier arguments given against this suddenly seem to have lost their relevance. One thing seems clear from this policy flip flop that it is not a well thought out plan from an economic viewpoint but clearly targeted at garnering some electoral benefits for the Ruling coalition in the coming assembly elections in the State. The govt was misleading the people either earlier giving these reasons for not accepting the employees demands or is misleading the people now.
In another move, the Govt accepted the demands of regarding the date of joining of a Rehbar Taleem, RT as his joining the regular service. This would give seniority benefits to all RTs. Even here, the RTs had been canvassing for move since many years now but the Govt saw the merit in their demand only when the elections are round the corner. Both these moves would have been considered sincere had they come earlier, at least before the NC-Congress electoral debacle. Having come at this time, one cannot but raise doubts about the timing of these moves.
In another surprise move the State government on Thursday appointed a one-man judicial commission to probe the killing of over 120 civilians during 2010 summer uprising. Retired Justice M L Koul who is also probing the Gagrin Shopian killings at the hands of CRPF will head the Commission. The State in 2010 had acknowledged only 17 out of the 120 killings and appointed the Justice Bashirudin Commission to probe those killings. That effort had ended in a fiasco with Justice Bashirudin resigning in protest following the government’s cold shouldering of the report, which had indicted armed forces. The people of the valley still remember how callous and insensitive the Omar Govt had been to the killings of these 120 Kashmiris. The Govt had not only failed to control the situation and the forces from responding in the most brutal way, but had also miserably failed to deliver justice to the victims and rehabilitate the next of kin of the victims.
No one in the State seems to have any doubt about the intention of the Govt in announcing these measures. The people can clearly see that these announcements have been made, keeping in view the coming Assembly elections. Whether they can give any electoral dividends to the present Govt can be seen only after the election results. But it looks a case of too little, too late.
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
ACT NOW |
MONTHLY | Rs 100 | |
YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |