The world is changing in every respect by every passing day. One can’t deny a change, the law of nature. Though spontaneous changes can’t be always desirable, but every one wants a desirable change. Not bothering about others, and its bad results, individually a person mostly wants to bring a change for his own benefit.
Nowadays there is a trend of occupational change, going on from a parent to his offsprings, a father wants his son to choose a different occupation from that the father had owned. So far as changing the occupational field is concerned, the people in today’s world mostly want to choose higher status and higher earning occupations and professions.
Without generalising the trend, here in Kashmir, most likely a labourer or a farmer wants his son to become government employee or the owner of a small business unit, an average level government employee and the owner of small business unit wants his son to become a high profile job holder or a high profile business man and so on.
The capabilities, calibre, choice and interests of people, which play an important role while choosing an occupation, vary from person to person. Some can do better in one field and the others can do better in another field. But the scope of an occupation in a perticular catchment area is a big factor which needs to be looked before choosing an occupation.
So a person tries to own the occupation that suits him the best, in terms of his choice, interest, earning and status. However, there is no criteria and boundness for some one that how he should choose his occupation.
A few years back, I met an American named Rana Farid, who, along with his family, was here in Chandan Wari area of Pahalgam with Bakarwal ” the goat and sheep rearing nomads”. According to Farid, he was here as a member of US based “The Global Millennium International NGO”. When I asked him about the aim of his NGO, his reply surprised me. He told me, ” in addition to develop underdeveloped parts of the world, as its prime aim, one of the objectives of the NGO is to encourage the people across the world, to continue the occupation and profession of their ancestors”. So that they may have a good and a long experience in concerned field. Which would provide the better output , and will stop people to migrate from one occupation to another, which creates an unevenness with regard to the different fields of occupations.
Replying to my question that why was he there with Bakarwals, he said, “they are underprivileged people, they need every type of help and they also need to be encouraged to continue with the sheep and goat rearing, even after pursuing the specific education in the concerned field, in order to enhance the meat and milk production, the dire need of the society”.
According to him, they also were planning to open a school that time under the same NGO in Harwan area of Srinagar, where they wanted to keep the mother tongue of students as the medium of instructions in order to keep the students confined to their own culture and make the learning as a most convenient way.
Later some one claimed, “that such kind of people belong to Christian Missionaries and the NGOs are only their means to propagate Christianity”.
May be that too would have remained one of the objectives of that NGO. But It was difficult to agree fully with the guess of others without a solid proof.
As per my view, no doubt that the Global Millennium International NGO, used to give helping hand to needy people , but if really one of the objectives of that NGO was, as it’s member said, then it was clear that Americans definitely wanted to remain always at the front row in the field of development, that was why, the Global Millennium International NGO wanted the people should remain forever there, where they were, by not encouraging them to taste the other occupations in life. They wanted them to bring a change within the occupation instead of changing the occupation.
However, different people may view it from their different points of views. Moreover, what their intention to run that NGO was, might be well known to them who used to run that.
No doubt, in Kashmir, the occupations of large portion of its population are government service and trade , but though the main three businesses industries in Kashmir, the most people are directly or indirectly dependent on, are tourism, fruit growing and handicrafting. However, people are mostly inclined to government services. Hence people go on changing their occupations for their better source of earning.
Nowadays, there are hardly the cases , where you can see the people who are willing to own and continue with the occupation of their parents.
I have seen some examples where the parents of some people had a good concern with fruit business, But their descendants, besides having a bit concern to ancestral occupation, have changed the occupational track to some extent, because over a period of years the fruit industry in Kashmir is not showing a good growth due to continous low market.
“Although, having a good interests in my parental occupation, but due to unchanged market value of apple fruit business despite day to day increasing expenditures, made me to choose one another occupation as a supplementry source of earning”, said the son of a fruit grower. That is how, everyone wants to change it, to earn a better livelihood.
Same holds true with tourism and handicrafts indus in Kashmir. Kashmir was once famous for its handicrafts industry , as a major portion of its population was engaged with this industry. But now the people are getting disinterested toward this profession due to the decrement in its income, hence they prefer to move away from this industry to choose other preferable occupation.
So better to change the occupation or to bring a change within the occupation is a question to be answered. If the government is serious for uplifting the people of Kashmir, then it has to take serious steps to bring a positive change in the business sectors, the most people are concerned with, of which the recent buyer seller meet held in Srinagar organised by government was a forward and appreciable step. But still a lot needs to be done.
Be it tourism, trade, handicrafts, fruit business or other busuiness sector, all the business sectors need to be promoted with regard to their market and their other aspects like production of quality and quantity, in order to make people self-sufficient with respect to their livelihood. So that, once again all the business sectors in Kashmir may get a boost and may again prove benificial for it’s owners. And they may not need to give up their basic occupation and to run after other occupational fields.
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