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News Update
Kashmiri youths aspire to overcome alienation
22 Oct 2007, 0001 hrs IST,Bhaskar Roy,TNN
SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates
SRINAGAR: Will there be campus recruitment for us some day, asks a student of Kashmir University’s journalism department, drawing cheers from her classmates.
Her query, made during a conversation with a group of visiting mediapersons, sizes up the aspiration of the young men and women in the militancy-scarred Valley to be part of the big, happening world, overcoming the distance of alienation.
Caught between the militant groups and the security forces for years, the silent community of such students has begun to make clear their choices. Convinced of the futility of the terror campaign, the educated youth seem to have sniffed opportunities in the current economic boom elsewhere in the country.
Several factors have contributed to the new thinking among the Valley’s youth. Internal turmoil in Pak-istan and its political instability have convinced the educated segments of the irrationality of any separatist movement.
In contrast, the students seem to have sniffed opportunities in the booming Indian economy. The possibility of good jobs in big cities far away from the Valley have tempted even those who have secretly sympathised with the Hurriyat groups.
Asked if he was willing to look for a job in any other part of the country, a young man, professing his support for the Gilani faction of the Hurriyat, shot back, "Is there any such offer?"
Some recent measures by the state administration have helped assuage the grievances of people and remove their sense of alienation. The government claims there has not been a single custody death so far this year.
For the first time since the state’s first chief minister, Sheikh Abdullah, had attempted land reforms in the 1950s, about three lakh acres is being distributed among marginal farmers.
But more than the sloppy government initiative to rebuild the civic infrastructure, what has impacted young minds is the information explosion — juxtaposing their solitude with the fast changing scenario outside the valley. "There is a growing realisation among us that our alienation will lead us nowhere," admits a young man with a post-graduate degree from Kashmir University.
Satellite television, mobile phones, Internet and improved transport facilities have brought the outside world closer to the Valley. A 190-km railway link between Baramulla and Udhampur — the state’s first railhead being built at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore across difficult terrain — is sure to boost the state’s connectivity. A former university teacher summed up the new mood of the Valley’s GenNext, "They now know they have more options than to remain stranded here for the rest of their lives."
Kashmiri youths aspire to overcome alienation
22 Oct 2007, 0001 hrs IST,Bhaskar Roy,TNN
SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates
SRINAGAR: Will there be campus recruitment for us some day, asks a student of Kashmir University’s journalism department, drawing cheers from her classmates.
Her query, made during a conversation with a group of visiting mediapersons, sizes up the aspiration of the young men and women in the militancy-scarred Valley to be part of the big, happening world, overcoming the distance of alienation.
Caught between the militant groups and the security forces for years, the silent community of such students has begun to make clear their choices. Convinced of the futility of the terror campaign, the educated youth seem to have sniffed opportunities in the current economic boom elsewhere in the country.
Several factors have contributed to the new thinking among the Valley’s youth. Internal turmoil in Pak-istan and its political instability have convinced the educated segments of the irrationality of any separatist movement.
In contrast, the students seem to have sniffed opportunities in the booming Indian economy. The possibility of good jobs in big cities far away from the Valley have tempted even those who have secretly sympathised with the Hurriyat groups.
Asked if he was willing to look for a job in any other part of the country, a young man, professing his support for the Gilani faction of the Hurriyat, shot back, "Is there any such offer?"
Some recent measures by the state administration have helped assuage the grievances of people and remove their sense of alienation. The government claims there has not been a single custody death so far this year.
For the first time since the state’s first chief minister, Sheikh Abdullah, had attempted land reforms in the 1950s, about three lakh acres is being distributed among marginal farmers.
But more than the sloppy government initiative to rebuild the civic infrastructure, what has impacted young minds is the information explosion — juxtaposing their solitude with the fast changing scenario outside the valley. "There is a growing realisation among us that our alienation will lead us nowhere," admits a young man with a post-graduate degree from Kashmir University.
Satellite television, mobile phones, Internet and improved transport facilities have brought the outside world closer to the Valley. A 190-km railway link between Baramulla and Udhampur — the state’s first railhead being built at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore across difficult terrain — is sure to boost the state’s connectivity. A former university teacher summed up the new mood of the Valley’s GenNext, "They now know they have more options than to remain stranded here for the rest of their lives."
