Jammu and Kashmir registered its highest voter turn-out in the last 25 years, as the fifth and final phase of polling in the assembly elections ended in December 2014, with an estimated 65 per cent of voters casting their vote, despite the fact that Kashmiri separatists had called for a complete boycott of the elections.
Clearly, people residing in the far flung villages of this northernmost Indian State have chosen to vote for change. "We have been facing development challenges for several years now. Problems as basic as lack of safe drinking water, electricity, roads, irrigation, education and what not. By not casting our vote, we simply lose our right to complain," said Mohammad Iqbal from Poonch District.
Iqbal's district is one of the most backward districts in the entire state, located amidst the fear of conflict. From one side, it is forced to face the shelling, cross-firing etc. and on the other, it fights very basic development issues. Majority of the population in Poonch doesn't have access to basic amenities like road, health infrastructure, education, safe drinking water, electricity... the list is endless. Development has become a more severe challenge for them than the cross-border firing.
Worse, whatever little existed by way of basic amenities has been destroyed by the recent floods in 2014. Worst affected are the natural sources of drinking water that have either been destroyed or do not provide clean water now, making the lives of the villagers in this remote district even more miserable.
As it is, only 34 per cent of the total population in Jammu and Kashmir had access to safe drinking water, according to a census report. "Nearly 64 per cent of the total population in JK uses tap water for drinking but only 34.7 per cent get it from treated source, rest of the population uses water from hand-pumps, rivers, canals, ponds and springs," said Census Department Joint Director C S Sapru.
The statistics are an honest reflection of the ground reality.
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Not very far from Poonch town lies the village of Jhulas located at a very strategic location: across the road is PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir), identified by the shining roofs of Pakistani houses, no different from ours. But the challenge for the communities residing in this village isn't the cross border firing but the water. Or lack thereof.
Mohammad Khalid, a resident of Mohalla Patiya, said that they have to walk one and a half kilometers on this hilly terrain to fetch water. "To arrange water for livestock is the biggest challenge, especially during rains," shared Khalid. With no source of drinking water, the only workable scheme in this area is the Lift Scheme wherein water is lifted to a certain level and stored in a tank that is connected to the houses via pipeline. Working efficiently in some parts of Poonch, this scheme has no presence whatsoever in Jhulas.
Day to day life in this village is disturbed in the daily chore of arranging water - for livestock, dishes, clothes, cooking, drinking - it is a basic requirement. The non-availability of water has also drastically affected education in the region.
For example, The Deria Public School, where thirty-one students attend classes, is facing huge water shortage. "There is no water to prepare the Mid-Day Meal and no water for sanitation purposes," shared teacher Mohammad Azim.
"I have to walk for two-three kilometers to get water to prepare the Mid-Day Meal (MDM). I have two small children at home to take care of. I cannot afford to waste so much time only to fetch water," rued Naseem Akhter, the helper for the MDM scheme.
As per Mohammad Zaid, a local, children who bathe in the morning tend to miss school. He further explained that if a child travels 2-3 kilometers to get water for bathing, how will he be able to reach school on time? Most of the time, they would rather miss school completely than reach late and get scolded by the teachers.
When the District Executive of the Public Health Engineering (PHE)
Department, Sarwan Singh, was contacted, he informed that Lift Scheme is proving to be unsuccessful with the rapidly increasing population. A new scheme has been proposed for fulfilling the water requirement of this region but they are yet to receive a go-ahead from the Government.
The Charkha Development Communication Network feels that it is very disheartening to see how the absence of an amenity as basic as water is contributing to the failure in education. People in Jhulas are hopeful that as soon as the new Government is formed, all their long-pending woes will get a chance to be heard! (ANI)
The views expressed in the article are of Mr. Harish Kumar.