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Srinagar: People in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir fear losing vast tracts of agricultural land they depend on for their livelihoods as New Delhi pushes a slew of roads, railways and other projects, famous Arab TV channel Al Jazeera reported.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, the channel describes the phenomenon through an example wherein it states that the Indian government\u2019s decision to construct an engineering college at the site in Pulwama \u2013 which includes almost all land of one Malik Haroon threatens to strip him and thousands of other cultivators in Kashmir of land, the source of economic livelihood for about 4 million people in the territory.<\/p>\n
The report goes as:<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the scenic snow-clad Pir Panjal mountains in the backdrop, Haroon\u2019s 1.25 acres (0.5 hectares) of orchard land, fed by the Rumshi Nallah River in southern Pulwama, are plush with groves that yield nearly 30 tonnes of apples, pears, plums and almonds every year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe income has helped his family of four sidestep widespread economic instability and an unemployment crisis in Indian-administered Kashmir since 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Hindu majoritarian government scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which granted a special status to the Muslim-majority region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApart from stripping the region of its special status, the Modi government also carved it into two federally governed union territories \u2013 Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not just a college the government has planned for the region. Since 2019, New Delhi has authorised a series of mega projects \u2013 roads, tunnels, railway lines and residential complexes \u2013 which critics say could destroy not just prime agricultural land and livelihoods, but also the Himalayan region\u2019s fragile topography.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKashmiris accuse the government of sidelining them while making decisions about their lands \u2013 without consent or proper compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGhulam Muhammad Tantray, 65, owns 1.25 acres (0.5 hectares) of orchard land at Dirhama, a small cluster of 150 homes amid a vast swath of green fields covered with thousands of apple trees in the Anantnag [Islamabad] district.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe orchard fetches me about $13,000 every year,\u201d Tantray says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he fears losing his property after Indian railway officials arrived in Dirhama to conduct what they called a \u201csurvey\u201d of lands in the area a year ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had no idea what was coming until the [Indian] Railway Ministry revealed that it had commissioned a final location survey to add five new railway tracks to the region. We panicked like anything. It\u2019s like losing something very dear to you. We have groomed this land and these trees like our children,\u201d Tantray tells Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the projects that has triggered considerable anguish among residents in Pulwama is the establishment of a National Institute of Technology (NIT). The NITs are a government-run nationwide chain of engineering colleges, among the country\u2019s most reputable tech schools. A whopping 600 acres (243 hectares) of land are being acquired for the college, according to a government notification issued on December 24, most of it prime agricultural and horticultural land and grazing grounds residents depend on for livelihoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe proposed land transfer affects as many as 10 villages in Pulwama,\u201d says Haroon.\u201dThis land is our lifeline.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says that most people in these villages have no economic pursuits other than horticulture.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome rear sheep for a living but even then, it is these grounds where the livestock come to graze,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe valley area of Indian-administered [occupied] Kashmir has long had just one railway line connecting the southern hill town of Banihal with the Baramulla district in the north.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the government plans to add five more lines crisscrossing the valley, for which hundreds of acres of land will be acquired, thereby eliminating flourishing apple orchards and other plantations key to the region. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the five new railway lines will cross Dirhama, where a railway station will also be built.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least 80 of 150 homes in Dirhama will lose their key sources of income after the completion of the railway project,\u201d says Tantray. \u201cAs for me, of the 1.25 acres [0.5 hectares] that I own, 1 acre [0.4 hectares] will be used up for the new railway station. What will that leave me with?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTantray says the villagers have held several protests, demanding the railway station be relocated and reasoning with government officials that they \u201cnever asked for it\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe land is our family inheritance. It has ensured our livelihood for generations,\u201d Tantray tells Al Jazeera. \u201cIn the face of a rising unemployment crisis, this land is the only option my three sons will have in case they are not able to get jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, says: \u201cLocals in Kashmir do not know how these projects will benefit them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAl Jazeera reached out to several government officials for their comments on the railway projects, but they did not reply.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pulwama resident Haroon also fears the proposed NIT project has military dimensions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like this project is meant to create a more entrenched military presence here,\u201d he says. \u201cOtherwise, why would they need 600 acres [243 hectares] of land for the project? The 2014 guidelines issued by India\u2019s Ministry of Human Resources put the ideal land requirement for NITs at 300 acres [121 hectares]. But this is twice as much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Altaf Thakur, spokesman for Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the region, concedes that some of these projects \u201care of dual-use in nature\u201d.<\/p>\n
In another move that has prompted fears of a demographic change in the region, the [Modi] government last year announced the setting up of at least 30 residential colonies within a 500-metre (1,640ft) periphery of the Srinagar ring road.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFears of a demographic alteration arose in Kashmir in 2020 when New Delhi relaxed rules for Indian nationals to settle in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cKashmiri academic Mohamad Junaid, assistant professor of anthropology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in the United States, tells Al Jazeera he fears the railway and other infrastructure projects are not based on Kashmiri people\u2019s needs, \u201cor even on future needs of the Kashmiri society\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are meant to alter the landscape and disorient and disrupt the Kashmiri economy. It is death by a thousand infrastructure projects,\u201d he says, adding the Kashmir Valley has \u201cvery limited agricultural land available which is critical for a large section of the society to sustain themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuilding such projects upon it will not only consume land but also disconnect communities and create barriers between them. While it is clear the railways are meant for Hindu pilgrimage and troop movement, it is even more worrisome that the government is creating \u2018townships\u2019 \u2013 for who? These settlements are not meant for Kashmiris.\u201d<\/p>\n
Activists, meanwhile, describe the ongoing land acquisitions for New Delhi\u2019s projects as \u201carbitrary\u201d, alleging that some aggrieved landowners were being compensated under a 1990 law, which they say became outdated after New Delhi scrapped the region\u2019s special status.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe newly-applicable Right to Fair Compensation Act of 2013 promises compensation four times the market rate,\u201d says Raja Muzaffar Bhat, an environmental activist based in the region.<\/p>\n
A retired government officer says the government invoked the 1990 law retrospectively because the 2013 law was not applicable when the notification for the project was issued in 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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