More public hearings on Forest Rights Act (FRA) should be held in villages located near forests in the months to come so that Gujjars, Bakerwals and other traditional forest dwellers are sensitized about their rights under FRA. The Department of Tribal Affairs has to play an active role now in view of being the nodal agency on implementation of FRA.
In 2013, the government of India had advised all state governments and Union Territories to explore the possibility of implementing online RTIs. Eight years have passed with no progress. This is sheer negligence that needs serious attention.
The consolidated workers have only one hope which is the proposed changes being made in existing labour laws. It is expected that by the monsoon session of parliament the bills will become full-fledged laws…
Let us hope that the High Court issues some meaningful orders in the coming months so that the Govt is made to act and pollution in Doodh Ganga gets reduced so that people are supplied safe drinking water. This is my message on this World Water Day
The proactive disclosure of information of BPL, APL, PHH or NPHH consumers on electronic public distribution system (e-PDS) portal proved to be helpful. This helped people in most of the districts in J&K.
For decades, authorities in J&K state have not devised any mechanism to treat the garbage in cities and towns. The Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is simply lifted from one place and then dumped at another site. Our Urban Local Bodies are merely re-locating the waste and not treating it.
We already lost a lot of agricultural land during construction of Qazigund – Baramulla railway line. Due to urbanization a lot of paddy fields were converted into housing colonies around Srinagar , Budgam and Ganderbal districts.
On the basis of initial cost of pavement the Concrete Roads are reported to be around 15 to 16 % costlier than the Bituminous Roads. However, on life cycle cost basis, the cement concrete roads due to their long life of 35 to 40 years and better durability are estimated to be around 25-30% cheaper when compared with Bitumen roads.
At a time when India is leapfrogging into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, how can authorities at helm in J&K Government not even make the official websites of the Government updated on a regular basis?
If things continue like this, by 2030, instead of achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Jammu & Kashmir, people in this part of the world will be pushed into a never-ending environmental disaster.
KO SUPPLEMENTS
