Srinagar: The BJP-led government at the centre claimed that removal of J&K’s special status will open the gates of development and investment in Jammu and Kashmir, but a year later the same government has not even removed the hurdles in the way of business, leave alone the bringing of investment.
According to the latest report of NITI Aayog, J&K has remained at the same spot in ease of doing business where it was last year. This is a result of its failure in implementing the Business Action Reform Plan (BARP), which could have eased the establishment of new businesses.
Any investor would have to wait for months together to get clearances such as construction permit, labour regulation, environmental registration, land lease, etc. J&K has figured nowhere in the NITI Aayog’s parameters of labour reforms, number of investment summits, power costs, and single-window clearance, parameters which determine the ranking in BARP chart.
As per the rankings, J&K is at 21st spot, just a notch up compared to last year’s ranking. Neighbouring states Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana are far ahead, featuring at 7, 19 and 16 slots, respectively.
Interestingly, hilly regions like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, similar in geographical features, have done better in making the system easier for business.
“This clearly shows that there is no correlation between the removal of special status and opening the door for investment in JK,” said Shakeel Qalander, an industrialist and former head of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “The ranking has proved it was just a hoax,” he said.
After the abrogation of Article 370 last year, there was much brouhaha over upcoming investments, but nothing has come out of it despite land being designated for industry. An official in the industries department said that not even an iota of progress has been made in the project of setting up a dry port here despite willingness from a Middle East country to invest in it.
Instead, the Kashmir economy has suffered losses of more than Rs 40,000 crores since the scrapping of J&K’s special status, with many businessmen in Kashmir at the verge of bankruptcy now.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz