Adv Bashir Dar

“THE CULT OF SELF” I watched CM sahib talking to the media after meeting LG sahib. What a contemptuous and disdainful way of asking his party MLAs to not pester him for a ministerial berth. I honestly can’t believe that these MLAs are comfortable with such belittling and humiliating remarks. If you are unable to accommodate them in the cabinet, you can spare them from public humiliation. Anyway these are the internal party matters and I should not have commented. But there is always a spillover. You may direct the derision at your own members but it invariably belittles the political class. I wonder how these elected members face their electors when they know they are treated like unworthy and incapable school boys. Tasha Eurich in her book writes about the “The Power of Self-Awareness in a Self-Deluded World”. Somebody desperately needs to read it. Somebody is certainly self-deluded. “The least competent people are usually the most confident in their abilities”, She writes. And to the Honourable elected MLAs who act like bonded labour and who it seems are immune to humiliation. Spare the political class from this belittlement. We deserve better.

Here is another shocker of a gift for the people of J & K especially for the poorer sections of the society. The smart metering is in process. The company issues a cable for connection to each household measuring not more than 4 meters. (2 meters for input and 2 meters for output) Anything more than 4 meters has to be paid for by the household. Otherwise the household will not get electricity connection. And will be disconnected from the grid. That means the farther the house is from an electric pole the more number of meters of cable is needed. Poor households have been forced to cough up anything between ₹ 4000 to ₹ 5000 to get smart meter installed. So you get a windfall in terms of votes :- By promising 200 units of free electricity. Two years have passed and not a single unit given free. Smart metering was subjected to derision and sarcasm and anger by CM sahib, during the election campaign. And now those who queued up to vote have to pay to get the smart meter installed. That actually is a great joke. And the joke is yet again, on those who voted for CM sahib.

Met a delegation led by Shri Dilip Ghode, a renowned champion of forest and tribal rights from Maharashtra, at my residence. We discussed the effective implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in Jammu & Kashmir. The FRA is an inclusive and empowering legislation that seeks to recognise and protect the rights of forest-dependent communities. I hope we can work together towards ensuring its meaningful and effective implementation on the ground. The delegation also comprised Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat.

How does government identify the poor? What is the definition of a poor person. We need a uniform definition of poor and poverty. DEFINITION 1:- As per the current definition of poverty, 92% certificates issued for EWS are from Jammu region and 8 % from Kashmir region. This almost means that 92% of poor people in J & K reside in the jammu region and only 8% reside in the Kashmir region. DEFINITION 2 :- Yet another definition of poor by the same government. This is ration cards for people living below poverty line (BPL). PHH and AAY ration cards. The holders of these ration cards get food items at subsidised prices. And these ration cards(PHH/AAY) serve as proof that the holder of this ration card is a poor person. Premier health institutions in the country like AIIMS also accept them as a proof of poverty. The only instance when this PHH/AAY ration card is not accepted as a proof of poverty is when a person from J & K applies for a government job. The government asks for a recruitment specific EWS certificate. In the Kashmir region there are 37.71 lakh PHH/AAY ration cards. And in Jammu region there are 29.81 lakh PHH/AAY ration cards. As per this definition, 55% poor people live in Kashmir and 45% in Jammu. But as per the definition of EWS criteria 92% of the poor reside in Jammu region and 8% reside in Kashmir region. How is it possible to have two definitions of poverty by the same government. How can government spend crores in subsidies for the poor and then deny their poorness when they apply for a job. And how is it possible that the two regions of Jammu and Kashmir which have been a single economic, social and political entity for hundreds of years, can have such differing levels of poverty. They have same economic indicators. How can 92 % poor reside in Jammu region and only 8% in Kashmir region? Such a rich and poor divide across two regions is an impossibility in the world of economics. It actually defies the science of economics. Not possible. The government is using an asset based criteria to define poor in issuing the EWS certificates. Apart from other criteria :- anybody having residential house of more than 3.68 Marlas is rich. Even the poorest has a house of this size in Kashmir. Some states like Kerala use the ration cards as proof of poverty and there is a single uniform definition of the poor. REGION-WISE IMPACT ON JOBS As per the answer to my question in this assembly session, In the last two years 7580 job vacancies have been filled by the government. The quota for EWS reservation at 10% means 758 are reserved for EWS. Under the EWS criteria, out of 758 jobs, 697 jobs have gone to Jammu region and 61 jobs have gone to Kashmir region. By PHH/AAY ration card criteria 341 jobs would have gone to Jammu region and 417 jobs would have gone to Kashmir region. As per the answer to my question in this assembly session there are 49672 job vacancies to be filled up. That quota for EWS reservation at 10% means 4967 jobs will be reserved for EWS. Under the EWS criteria, out of 4967 jobs, 4569 jobs are all set to go to Jammu region and a meagre 398 jobs will go to Kashmir region. By the PHH/AAY ration card criteria 2235 jobs would go to Jammu region and 2732 jobs would go to Kashmir region. This gap of poverty 92% vs 8 % between Jammu and Kashmir regions is a joke at the expense of the science of economics. And we are living with a joke at the cost of thousands of poor students who are denied an EWS certificate because their government can’t understand primary economics taught at class 10th level. The asset based criteria has to be changed. The Honbl’e speaker has given a direction that the matter merits examination and that the government should study the EWS criteria used by different states. Let us hope the government works on it. Government says changing criteria is not in their domain. I disagree. It is in their domain.

In response to my question in the assembly pertaining to recruitment, the data brings out some ugly truths about the false promises made by the NC government in their election manifesto. The NC manifesto is a litany of lies. 1) In their election manifesto, NC promised to create 100000 new jobs. Till date they have created 899 jobs. It means that at current rate it will take them 222.46 years to create 100000 jobs. What a joke. The bigger joke is on those people who bought this lie. 2) In their election manifesto, NC also promised to fill all vacancies in government departments within 180 days. Today, it was revealed that only 7,580 vacancies have been filled in the past two years. As on date, 40672 posts remain vacant. Data shows that 24427 non‑gazetted posts, 3318 gazetted posts, and 12927 multi‑tasking staff positions are still unfilled At this pace, it will take more than a decade to fill up these 40672 posts. 3) NC also had promised to waive off application fees for government jobs. In response to a question submitted by me a year back, it turned out the same government had collected crores in application fees.

In Tanghdar Karnah out of 149 sanctioned posts, only 42 staff members are working in hospital (SDH Tangdar). Due to staff shortage, people are suffering. There is no specialist doctor available . Even KFT and LFT tests are not being done due to non-availability of staff. Karnah is an isolated place. People are dependent on this medical facility, SDH Tangdar. Hope the government takes note of the severity of the situation.

So now medical interns are being threatened with cancellation of their internships. What a shame. CM sahib. I challenge you. This arrogance. This bravado. Can you please show this in Delhi when you go with shawls and bouquets to BJP top leadership. The ones you sought votes against is the BJP. They are the one you go with shawls and bouquets and bend your back backwards to please them. And the ones whom you sought votes from, mainly Kashmiri’s are the one whom you threaten and treat with contempt and disdain. And I believe you have said the Heath Minister is looking into the matter. May I humbly remind you. That the finance minister will have to arrange the cash not the health minister. And apparently you are incharge of the finance department. And to the people of Kashmir who gave them 42 seats, May I say my hello to you all.

It is imperative that the demands of the striking medical interns be met. Medicine is still the noblest profession in the world. These interns deserve much more. They have to work so hard. They never stop studying. They have to keep studying all their life and keep treating patients. They put their lives in risk in times of pandemics like Covid. And please if you do increase, do not follow it with a corresponding reductions in recruitment of interns the next year. We definitely need more interns, more nursing staff and more dentists and more doctors. I did some very basic arithmetics and economics calculations. Why raise money externally. Why not internally. There is ample scope. I was looking at the following:- 1) bed capacity in J & K government hospitals. Number of beds. 2) Total number of OPD patients in government hospitals in J & K 3) Total number of private nursing homes, diagnostic centres and pharmacies of scale. Just a food for thought. If we spare the BPL population. And charge a minimum rate of ₹ 20-50 per night per bed. Charge an extra ₹20-50 per patient in the OPD. Charge an extra 10% for diagnostic procedures in government hospitals. Allow patients to pay at market rates for expediting surgical interventions in government hospitals, non-peak hours or beyond the hours of duty and enumerate the doctor too. Have a flat charge in the form of higher license fees for all private medical institutions in J & K who are licensed by the government. These would mean all nursing homes, all diagnostic centres, medical testing labs, pharmacies of scale etc etc. Do your maths. The money is there. Raise it to raise the standard of medical care in J & K.

CM sahib it seems has no sense of timing. Day 1, on the 2nd of September, 2026 NC and BJP protest, probably against each other. We saw pictures of NC leaders. One was trying to force his way to nowhere. The other was climbing a vehicle. The other was shouting his lungs out. Dozens of such visuals. All the visuals conveyed assertiveness and defiance. For a moment even I thought that they may repeat the Gen Z protest of Delhi. And yet barely two days later, day 3, 4th of September, 2026, CM sahib calls on HM sahib. Of course there was a bouquet of flowers from CM sahib to HM sahib. I am in wonderment. If CM sahib had to pose with HM sahib on the 4th of September in Delhi, why indulge in the theatre of absurd and do all song and dance in Srinagar on the 2nd of September. Do these leaders like making fun of themselves when they are negated the very next day. Or does CM sahib love having some fun and masti at the cost of his colleagues. The biggest casualty yet again is the sacred institution of protest. It has been literally assaulted here in Kashmir and rendered unrecognisable. The institution of Protest which has ushered in economic, political revolutions worldwide has been relegated to photo ops in Kashmir. Common sense it seems is not very common. Or it seems collectively we have little common sense to not understand what should not have been uncommon.