JKUT witnesses renewed energy under LG Govt; Handicrafts to be promoted in Germany

Abdul Hamid Khan

Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (JKUT) is witnessing a new era of peace, progress and development under the able administration of Lieutenant Governor (LG) post abrogation of Article 370 which is evident from the fact that the Union Government is giving top priority for the developmental works in JKUT and the LG himself is monitoring the progress on a daily basis.

While India is celebrating its 75 years of Independence under the flagship programme Azadi Ka Amrit Mohotsav JKUT is equally being given chance to reap the benefits and promote its vast tourism, rich cultural heritage and focus on development, job creation and peace.

The rich cultural heritage of J&K is getting a boost under Azadi Ka Amrit Mohotsav programme which is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India and the glorious history of it’s people, culture and achievements.

This Mahotsav is dedicated to the people of India who have not only been instrumental in bringing India thus far in it’s evolutionary journey but also hold within them the power and potential to enable Prime Minister Modi’s vision of activating India 2.0, fuelled by the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav is an embodiment of all that is progressive about India’s socio-cultural, political and economic identity. The official journey of “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” commenced on 12th March, 2021 which started a 75 week countdown to our 75th anniversary of Independence and will end post a year on 15th August, 2023.

To promote the Handicrafts of Jammu and Kashmir particularly Kashmir Valley globally, the Director Handicrafts and Handloom Kashmir, Mahmood Ahmad Shah held an extensive web meeting with Dr Suyash Chavan Consulate General of India (CGI), Germany recently.

The online meeting dealt exclusively in reviewing the scope of developing end-to-end export linkages to provide quality handicraft products of Kashmir to the German Market in particular and rest of Europe in general so as to ensure quality products reach Germany to increase the handicraft exports to Germany.

Germany is the largest consumer of Kashmir carpets and in addition imports Chain Stitch, Paper Machie and Walnut furniture from Kashmir. As the weather of Germany is characterized by cold winters, this makes it a perfect destination for the use of Kashmiri Shawls, Rugs and Carpets.

The tie-up shall also aim to connect art lovers and handicraft importers of Germany with  exporters from Kashmir and also achieve a tie up of master craftsmen and artisans of Kashmir  with art connoisseurs through digital platforms, which shall ensure long term sustainability for arts like Papier-mâché, sozni, kani shawl, basket weaving, khatamband, wood carving, silver and copper carving, carpet weaving, leather, silk and pashmina weaving amongst other crafts that Kashmir is known for in German markets

It was discussed that the participation of Handicrafts & Handloom shall be facilitated in participation in upcoming Expos and Trade shows which shall provide an opportunity of international exposure as well as showcasing the Kashmiri art at international platforms besides selling their inventory which has remained unsold due to COVID-19 pandemic.

To begin with, GI certified products of Kashmir shall be presented to the Consulate General of India, Germany which includes Pashmina, Khatamband, Walnut wood carving, Sozni, Kani Shawl, Hand knotted carpet, Paper Machie and Saffron for display in the Consulate General Munich office and in the exhibitions at Germany.

The consulate general was briefed about the export incentive announced by the Government on GI certified goods and about the renewed focus on Handicrafts in view of the recent UNESCO Craft listing for Srinagar City.

He was apprised about initiatives taken to promote artisans through Craft tours. Consulate General was also apprised about the GI labeling of Kashmir carpets and adaption of block chain mechanism to check piracy and misbranding of Kashmir handicrafts

The Consulate General expressed his desire for cross platform exchange and promotion of Departmental social media handles in Germany. The Counsel General requested for digital content like films and photographs on Kashmir craft to be promoted by counsel handle.

The Counsel General was assured that digital content like pictures videos, brochures will be provided to CG for disseminations in German Market.

In this regard to appreciate the governance of the LG administration in JKUT, the Union Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), V Srinivas recently presented the first copy of District Good Governance Index (DGGI) to Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta here in presence of Principal Secretary Information and Higher Education, Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, GAD, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi and DG IMPARD, Sourabh Bhagat.

The maiden exercise is the sequel to the many administrative reforms taken in hand by J&K administration post August, 2019. The exercise is first of its kind in the country where districts have been rated as per their score computed on public feedback and reforms taken in making the governance process simple, swift, innovative, accessible and accountable.

On the occasion the Chief Secretary termed it as a milestone in improving the overall culture of offering people-friendly administration with an inherent sense of accountability along with transparency in its functioning.

He said the exercise is prelude to the umbrella process taken by the government to make governance more responsive, reformative, reasonable, rational and accessible at doorsteps of people.

Dr Mehta lauded both DARPG and IMPARD for culminating this tedious exercise in such a short duration of time. He maintained that this exercise would be made more evolved and inclusive in future overspreading to even the lowest levels of administration.

Earlier it was said that the DGGI framework has 58 indicators drawn from different aspects of development and district administration. It encompasses 10 sectors such as agriculture and allied sector, commerce and industry, human resource development, public health, public infrastructure and utilities, economic governance, welfare and development, public safety and judiciary and citizen centric governance in computing the overall score of the district in the index.

After an elaborate exercise of data collation followed by data sanitization the final index was computed using standard and tested data normalisation and scoring methods, as was revealed on this occasion.

The index would reflect comprehensive rank of districts based on composite 10 sectors. The DGGI will also offer a window on indicator-wise performance of the districts, a much easier way of understanding their performance on governance process, as was said by the concerned officers during this official event.

In the composite ranking of first ever District Good Governance Index (DGGI) released by Home Minister, Amit Shah the Jammu district has managed to top the list followed by districts of Doda, Samba, Pulwama and Srinagar in the UT.

The DGGI is a framework document comprising of performance under ten governance sectors having 58 indicators with 116 data points. The criteria has been adopted after following a rigorous and robust process of data collection, screening and validation by each of the Districts.

The governance sectors the performance of which was weighed under this index includes Agriculture and allied sector (11 indicators), Commerce & Industry (05), Human Resource Development (09), Public Health (09), Public Infrastructure & Utilities (06), Social Welfare & Development (06), Financial Inclusion (03), Judiciary & Public Safety (04), Environment (02) and Citizen Centric Governance (03).

Under individual categories Kishtwar has been rated top in Agriculture sector, Jammu in 2 sectors of C&I and Citizen Centric Governance, Pulwama in HRD, Reasi in Public Health, Srinagar in Public Infrastructure, Ramban in Social Welfare, Ganderbal in Financial Inclusion, Doda in Judicial & Public Safety and Shopian in Environment.

In the overall ranking Ganderbal stands at 6th place, Anantnag at 7th then by Baramulla district at 8th place followed by Kathua (9th), and Kupwara at 10th place.

The last 10 district in the index includes Kishtwar ranked 11th followed by districts of Budgam, Udhampur, Reasi, Bandipora, Ramban, Kulgam, Shopian, Poonch and Rajouri being at the bottom of the index in the composite ranking.

Similarly, to reach out to the common man directly LG is organising Awaam Ki Awaaz regularly which is giving the common people to highlight their grievances as well as suggest steps for the good governanc3e in the JKUT.

Sumit Bhargav, a journalist from Rajouri district of Jammu division has termed Lieutenant Governor, Shri Manoj Sinha’s ‘Awaam Ki Awaaz’ as a platform that gives confidence to common man to share their experiences and suggestions directly with the head of the government.

LG Sinha in his monthly Radio talk Awaam ki Awaaz edition on 16 January had mentioned about Bhargav’s suggestion.

Bhargav had suggested an idea for installation of boards on roads after every few kilometres with these boards having names of Engineers and Contractors who built the road and this step would give a push to transparency and accountability in road construction projects.

LG Sinha had termed the suggestion as a unique one and said that concerned suggestion would be examined.

Sumit Bhargav while terming Awaam Ki Awaaz as a praiseworthy step said that it is a platform where people of Jammu and Kashmir are finding takers of their suggestions as well as experiences.

He said that such platforms give an extra level of confidence to a common man to be a direct part of development in his/her area.