Srinagar, November 25
Vice-President Hamid Ansari today expressed concern over the state's agro-based economy and urged the Central government to start "second green revolution" from Jammu & Kashmir.

Speaking here on the fourth convocation of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K), Ansari stressed the need for improving the state's agriculture, saying it contributed more than half of net domestic product against the sector's 18.5 per cent share in national gross domestic product GDP. "It is the main source of livelihood for 80 per cent of the state's population and productivity of most crops is below the national level. Only 42 per cent of the net sown area is under irrigation," he said.

The adverse impact of the low growth in agriculture has implications for the inclusiveness of growth, and there is therefore a need to re-focus our efforts in this sector not just in J&K but also in rest of the country, Ansari said during his maiden visit here as the Vice-President. He did not miss to point out the irony that despite dependence of a large number of people on cattle rearing and sheep breeding and despite the state's high ratio of 900 animals per 1000 persons, it depends on imports of animal products. "On human indices, the state is nearer the bottom than the top. The scars of the recent past are all too evident," he said.

In his short speech, Ansari outlined the need for revival in agriculture and said the "path back to normalcy and eventual prosperity for the state goes through down-to-earth and grass-root sector of agriculture". He asked the agricultural university to model its syllabus to state's agro-economic needs, to take lead in adult literacy and skills upgradation programmes, including agro-tourism, and imparting entrepreneurial skills to students.

University's chancellor and Governor S.K. Sinha told the graduates the world was recognising Indian economy was shining but this shine had not reached the rural India yet. Being graduates in agriculture , they could do a lot in making the rural areas, especially of the state, shine.

Earlier, SKUAST-K's vice-chancellor Anwar Alam told the audience, which included state's Chief Minister and university's pro-vice-chancellor, the institute had been successful in producing new varieties of several crops, which had helped state's farmers considerably. 

Jammu, November 25
Even as the World Monuments Fund (WMF), New York, had listed the city of Leh in its top 100 most endangered sites in the world, the priceless rich heritage of Ladakh in the form of its monasteries needed sustained preservation and conservation efforts involving both local people and monks in the monasteries, a top tourism expert in Jammu and Kashmir said here on Friday.

Dotted with centuries-old Buddhist monasteries, murals, mud and clay stupas, Ladakh has over 35 Buddhist monasteries that attract a large number of both domestic and international tourists. However, these monasteries, which are its precious heritage, are crumbling and need immediate attention.

“Monasteries are crumbling in Ladakh and need a lot of sincere efforts for its preservation, but we, at the same time, cannot forget the fact that these monasteries are living temples where Lamas (monks or priests) live and meditate. So, it is very important to involve them for the conservation efforts in the monasteries,” said Mohammed Ashraf, former director-general of tourism, Jammu and Kashmir, while speaking at a lecture on “Saving Ladakh heritage-Crumbling Monasteries”, organised in connection with the World Heritage Week (November 19-25).

The lecture was organised by The Vijay Suri Foundation, J&K, in collaboration with the Friends of Ladakh Society, Centre for History and Culture of Jammu and Ladakh region and University of Jammu.

Stressing the need to include local communities in preservation of monasteries, power minister J&K government Nawang Rigzin Jora said it was very important as Ladakhis did not have the understanding about the principles of conservation.

“The traditional practice of conservation has fallen down and the monasteries management is coming up with new structures than preserving the previous ones. Then there were conflicts and interests of restoration agencies,” said Rigzin Jora adding that it was very important to strike a balance between the two so that the age-old heritage could be preserved.

He said though the Archeological Survey of India had pitched in as far as conservation of monasteries and other monuments in Ladakh were concerned; yet these had not yields good results.

“The ASI had done shoddy work in Leh Palace, which was overlooking the Leh market and with them for the past 20 years or so,” he added. 

Srinagar, November 25
An NGO today demanded that the Gojri language of Jammu and Kashmir be included in the list of official languages of the country.

The demand was put forth by the Gujjar community in a memorandum faxed to Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, national secretary of the Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation (TRCF) Javaid Rahi said in a statement here.

He said the memorandum signed by all prominent writers and poets of the language has sought intervention of the state government to recommend to the Centre that Gojri be included in the official languages list of the country.

Gojri has a strong literary tradition and is an old language of the Indian sub-continent. He said that there is adequate provision in the Indian Constitution for linguistic minorities.

He said the J and K government has already recognised Gojri by including it in the 6th Schedule of the state constitution.

After Kashmiri and Dogri, Gojri is the third largest spoken languages in Jammu and Kashmir, the memorandum said. It sought the help of various Kashmiri, Dogri, social, linguistic organisations and political parties in this cause. — PTI