This is a copy of the talk delivered by Maj Gen P K Sehgal at an International Seminar at JNU on the 30th of July, 2016.
I hope the Army in Kashmir can propagate this because I don't visualize the politicians doing this as can be evident from the situation till now. The politicians and the media is only carrying out blame game.
Subject. Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship in Kashmir.
Honourable Chairperson, esteemed personae on the Dias, ladies and Gentlemen, it's an honour to be speaking to such an illustrious audience on Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship in Kashmir. I am grateful to Prof. Geeta Singh, President Vishwagram for this invite.
At the very outset I wish to state that by no stretch of imagination, I can claim to be an authority on the subject that I have chosen to speak on. This statement notwithstanding I have perhaps a better understanding of the ground realities than most of the bureaucrats dealing with education.
Post retirement, I have counselled over a million children on issues concerning education, employment, stability in life and entrepreneurship. This entailed a yearly travel of around 15, 000 to20, 000 kms.
Since 2002, I have travelled over 2.0 lakh kms to reach out to children of hundreds of schools, colleges and universities in 20 states of India. These included schools and colleges in dacoit infested areas of Madhya Pradesh, terrorist prone areas of Kashmir and far flung areas of Uttarakhand. This has given me a unique insight into what is really happening on the ground.
Our schools, colleges and universities ought to be the citadels of a proud nation but majority of them continue to be horrific examples of societal neglect and decay. Across India I found that a majority of our academic institutions, particularly the ones at the foundational level have major infrastructural and intellectual infirmities. While the former are being looked into the latter are yet to be addressed. Labs and libraries are either notional or nonexistent and student to teacher ratios are abysmal. A very large number of teachers are political appointees whose personal competence, demeanour, character and conduct are suspect. Majority of them are downright un-inspirational and unworthy of emulation by the children. This ought to worry us as 80% of our Generation Next would be products of such institutions.
As regards colleges and universities are concerned, over 80 % of their products are un-employable as students therein do not acquire any skill that is needed in today's milieu by the industry, the corporate sector or the potential employer. Besides, their knowledge is extremely shallow, pristine and completely theoretical which cannot be applied to a given situation. It's unfortunate that in the 21st century knowledge being imparted is of 19th and early 20th century.
Private, run of the mill colleges have sprung up in a very big way all along our National Highways; obviously because of dubious governmental patronage. They are the biggest offenders. Barring a few exceptions majority of them are essentially money spinners for their owners and proprietors. Children graduating from them have a sub-optimal future.
You must be wondering what has all this got to do with Kashmir. I dare say the scenario there is no different. Here too there are gaping infirmities in infrastructure and worrisome deficiencies at the intellectual level. In the last five to six years, on a request by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Gen Hasnain, then GOC 15 Corps, I reached out to over 30,000 children of some 40 colleges and thirty schools in the terrorist prone Districts of South and Central Kashmir.
I spent nearly thirty days in Doru, Anantnag, Awantipur, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shupiyan, Ganderbal, Bandipur, Pattan and some other terrorist prone areas of Central and South Kashmir spread over two years. Initially, I was met with a certain amount of circumspection, hesitancy and some hostility by the local media. However, when I told them that I had my roots in Kashmir, as my great grandfather was the first Indian to be Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, they became supportive and gave excellent coverage to my efforts.
As a consequence 6,000 students of 10 colleges and 7 schools turned up at Pulwama; 3,500 at Kulgam and 2,500 at Shupiyan to listen to me. Audience everywhere was in overwhelming numbers. Post my talks I had several interactions with the students, faculty members, Vice Chancellors and parents which gave me a mega peep into the why and whereof of what is happening in the valley.
Private, run of the mill colleges have sprung up in a very big way all along our National Highways; obviously because of dubious governmental patronage. They are the biggest offenders. Barring a few exceptions majority of them are essentially money spinners for their owners and proprietors. Children graduating from them have a sub-optimal future.
You must be wondering what has all this got to do with Kashmir. I dare say the scenario there is no different. Here too there are gaping infirmities in infrastructure and worrisome deficiencies at the intellectual level. In the last five to six years, on a request by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Gen Hasnain, then GOC 15 Corps, I reached out to over 30,000 children of some 40 colleges and thirty schools in the terrorist prone Districts of South and Central Kashmir.
I spent nearly thirty days in Doru, Anantnag, Awantipur, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shupiyan, Ganderbal, Bandipur, Pattan and some other terrorist prone areas of Central and South Kashmir spread over two years. Initially, I was met with a certain amount of circumspection, hesitancy and some hostility by the local media. However, when I told them that I had my roots in Kashmir, as my great grandfather was the first Indian to be Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, they became supportive and gave excellent coverage to my efforts.
As a consequence 6,000 students of 10 colleges and 7 schools turned up at Pulwama; 3,500 at Kulgam and 2,500 at Shupiyan to listen to me. Audience everywhere was in overwhelming numbers. Post my talks I had several interactions with the students, faculty members, Vice Chancellors and parents which gave me a mega peep into the why and whereof of what is happening in the valley.
They shared with me their aspirations and their fears. Students in Kashmir suffer from continuous feeling of insecurity about their safety and their future. Fear of the unknown is universal and widespread. They invariably had some very harsh words for the Govts insensitivity, bureaucratic arrogance, lack of employment opportunities, poor infrastructure and unbelievable levels of corruption.
They had harsher words for the separatists who at the drop of a hat call for" bandhs" and exploit their innocence while cocooning their own kith and kin. This causes immense damage to their psyche and is a major road block for achieving academic excellence. Ladies and Gentlemen, the writing on the wall is very clear, for India's sake these issues need to be addressed to the satisfaction of the Generation Next. I assure you they are sharp and know what to do to the separatists should their concerns be taken care of.
As far as employment in the valley is concerned, it is more dismal than elsewhere in the country. Kashmiri student is largely disinclined to venture out of the valley and because of lack of any industry worth the name, there are no jobs available. Hence, the huge frustrations amongst the Generation next; do remember an idle mind is a devil's workshop. The Govt of the day has to think out of the box to create sufficient jobs within the valley. I could recommend several avenues. Develop Kashmir into a world class city. This would give a mega boost to tourism of all types including adventure tourism. This industry is the second largest employer and a huge revenue generator. Set up Fruit preservation and processing industries to help the Orchard growers. This would once again generate large number of jobs besides enriching all those involved in fruit growing by an order of magnitude. Develop horticulture, floriculture, handicrafts and furniture industry. Kashmir is ideally suited for all this.
Swiss Alps have an average height of 5,500 ft with Jung Fro being the highest point at 7,900 ft. Kashmir has a base height of 5,000 ft with hills in all directions rising up to 12,000 to 15,000 ft. We have better ski slopes, prettier lakes, fast flowing rivers, thicker alpine forests. All of them are crying for attention and exploitation. You can give to the tourist ultra-value for money, better than the best in the world provided we exploit God's bounty to our advantage and back this up with a real world class infrastructure.
They had harsher words for the separatists who at the drop of a hat call for" bandhs" and exploit their innocence while cocooning their own kith and kin. This causes immense damage to their psyche and is a major road block for achieving academic excellence. Ladies and Gentlemen, the writing on the wall is very clear, for India's sake these issues need to be addressed to the satisfaction of the Generation Next. I assure you they are sharp and know what to do to the separatists should their concerns be taken care of.
As far as employment in the valley is concerned, it is more dismal than elsewhere in the country. Kashmiri student is largely disinclined to venture out of the valley and because of lack of any industry worth the name, there are no jobs available. Hence, the huge frustrations amongst the Generation next; do remember an idle mind is a devil's workshop. The Govt of the day has to think out of the box to create sufficient jobs within the valley. I could recommend several avenues. Develop Kashmir into a world class city. This would give a mega boost to tourism of all types including adventure tourism. This industry is the second largest employer and a huge revenue generator. Set up Fruit preservation and processing industries to help the Orchard growers. This would once again generate large number of jobs besides enriching all those involved in fruit growing by an order of magnitude. Develop horticulture, floriculture, handicrafts and furniture industry. Kashmir is ideally suited for all this.
Swiss Alps have an average height of 5,500 ft with Jung Fro being the highest point at 7,900 ft. Kashmir has a base height of 5,000 ft with hills in all directions rising up to 12,000 to 15,000 ft. We have better ski slopes, prettier lakes, fast flowing rivers, thicker alpine forests. All of them are crying for attention and exploitation. You can give to the tourist ultra-value for money, better than the best in the world provided we exploit God's bounty to our advantage and back this up with a real world class infrastructure.
Singapore's geographical size is virtually akin to the size of the Srinagar Valley. This notwithstanding, it attracts several times more tourists. It has hundred times more hotels then what we have in the valley. There everything is artificial, man-made while here everything is gifted to us by nature. We have failed to exploit it.
All South East Asian Nations are huge exporters of processed fruit. The raw material is picked up from the orchards of Kashmir at throw away price of around Rs.50 a kg. However, after processing the same is sold for Rs. 600 to Rs. 1500 a kg. Our fruit growers in Kashmir sell it at such low prices because of inability to preserve its produce, lest it perishes. Today technology enables us to preserve the same for several months. We need to urgently build up requisite capacities to enable our orchard owners to control the market rather than market forces controlling them.
When it comes to horticulture and floriculture, Holland is the largest exporter of flowers in the world. Kashmir is ideally suited to give Holland a run for its money. There are very many more options and opportunities begging attention. We must get into our act without any further ado.
It is essential that I devote some time to Entrepreneurship in Kashmir. Self-entrepreneurship has immense scope in Kashmir. While the nitty-gritties of the same are being taught in Kashmir University and several other colleges it hasn't really picked up. One of the major reasons is the absence of Peace and Tranquility. Nobody wants to invest time and money in an uncertain environment. Further, while a lot is being said about Stand up India, Startup India, Digital India, Make in India, Skill India, Smart Cities, etc; there is very little awareness in schools and colleges as to what exactly does it involve. Hence the schemes need re-booting.
I have finished. Thank you, ladies and Gentlemen for a very patient hearing
Brig Narinder Dhand (Veteran)
http://signals-parivaar.blogspot.in
All South East Asian Nations are huge exporters of processed fruit. The raw material is picked up from the orchards of Kashmir at throw away price of around Rs.50 a kg. However, after processing the same is sold for Rs. 600 to Rs. 1500 a kg. Our fruit growers in Kashmir sell it at such low prices because of inability to preserve its produce, lest it perishes. Today technology enables us to preserve the same for several months. We need to urgently build up requisite capacities to enable our orchard owners to control the market rather than market forces controlling them.
When it comes to horticulture and floriculture, Holland is the largest exporter of flowers in the world. Kashmir is ideally suited to give Holland a run for its money. There are very many more options and opportunities begging attention. We must get into our act without any further ado.
It is essential that I devote some time to Entrepreneurship in Kashmir. Self-entrepreneurship has immense scope in Kashmir. While the nitty-gritties of the same are being taught in Kashmir University and several other colleges it hasn't really picked up. One of the major reasons is the absence of Peace and Tranquility. Nobody wants to invest time and money in an uncertain environment. Further, while a lot is being said about Stand up India, Startup India, Digital India, Make in India, Skill India, Smart Cities, etc; there is very little awareness in schools and colleges as to what exactly does it involve. Hence the schemes need re-booting.
I have finished. Thank you, ladies and Gentlemen for a very patient hearing
Brig Narinder Dhand (Veteran)
http://signals-parivaar.blogspot.in
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