Political priorities must shift from short-term fixes to long-term visions for education, healthcare, justice, and transparent governance
By Rayees Yaseen
Politics in Kashmir continues to revolve around the distribution of basic facilities. Roads, electricity poles, water pipelines, bridges, and NREGA works dominate the discourse, as if these were extraordinary favours bestowed upon the people. In reality, such services are the fundamental responsibility of any government, not achievements to be showcased as political victories. By reducing governance to the provision of bare essentials, politicians have trapped society in a cycle of dependency rather than progress.
What remains absent is a vision for real development. The education system, which holds the power to transform generations, suffers from neglect. The health sector continues to struggle with inadequate infrastructure and poor accessibility. Poverty alleviation measures are superficial at best, and the voices of the unprivileged remain unheard. Private sector employees, contractual workers, and daily wagers live in uncertainty, facing injustice without representation. These concerns rarely find a place in political manifestos or speeches.
Equally alarming is the inefficiency that defines government offices. Files are delayed for months, corruption thrives, and fraud in issuing certificates has become commonplace. Instead of addressing such systemic issues, politicians prefer to interfere in block-level schemes and local projects, using them as tools to consolidate influence and patronage.
True development in Kashmir requires a fundamental shift in political priorities — from short-term gains to long-term vision. The focus must move from distributing poles and pipes to ensuring quality education, accessible healthcare, justice for the underprivileged, dignity for workers, and a transparent, corruption-free governance system. Until such a transformation takes place, Kashmir will remain caught in the politics of survival, with its aspirations for genuine progress left unfulfilled.
The writer is a research scholar
ra***********@***il.com