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M
alala Yousafzai, the
child advocate from
across the border
who gained respect world-
wide for her activism in the
field of girls education, was
recent l y conferred wit h
Pakistans Civil Awards. This
16-year-old human rights
crusader, who now lives in
Britain, was shot by a Taliban
gunman in 2012 for her out-
spoken views on childrens
education in her home region
in north-west Pakistan. Yet
this near-fatal attack did not
deter her from speaking
about the importance of edu-
cation especially for girls
she is a firm believer that it
takes merely one child, one
teacher, one book and one
pen to change the world.
Malalas belief is shared by
her peer, Shazia Kouser, a res-
ident of this side of the Indian
border. Hailing from the bor-
der village Banloi, 15km from
Mendhar tehsil of Poonch
district in Jammu & Kashmir,
Shazia has grown up with
conflict. Coupled with isola-
tion from rest of the country,
this hostile environment has
kept the inhabitants of this
border village away from
development. Struggling with
basic facilities in addition to
the fallouts of conflict has
become a part of life for
them. Worst affected is edu-
cation more specifically,
the education of girls.
There were days when
women were simply not
allowed to pursue education.
Militancy is considered to be
the main reason for this
trend. According to the 1981
Census Report, the female lit-
eracy rate for Poonch district
was only 11.24 per cent as
compared to the male litera-
cy rate of 34.20 per cent. The
comparison is worse in rural
Poonch with a mere 8.47 per
cent women being literate
against 32.19 per cent of men.
Dogged efforts of the
State made education the
focus of development in spite
of militancy being a constant
fear in the backdrop, hinder-
ing progress at every step. It
was then, in 1980, that the
first school was established in
Banloi. Today, over three
decades later, there are only
three primary and one mid-
dle school in this village
catering to the needs of a
population of approximately
3,500 people. Both boys and
girls are encouraged to go
to school.
Still, the absence of a
higher secondary school in
the village has resulted in a
high drop-out rate after class
eight, especially among girls.
The nearest higher sec-
ondary school is in village
Mankote, eight to nine kilo-
metres from Banloi, making
it difficult for girls to travel
and attend school. Girls
often drop out from school
after completing class eight as
there is no higher secondary
school in our village. Boys are
allowed to travel long dis-
tances to other villages and
continue their studies but
girls do not have permission
from their parents, rues 23-
year-old Shazia.
Another factor that plays
an important role in the high
drop-out rate is the close
proximity of the village to the
border. Villagers have been
issued identity cards by the
security forces and are
allowed only restricted move-
ment during the day that,
after strict security checks
each time they cross the gate.
Parents do not like their girls
subjected to such security
checks thereby denying
them the right to continue
their studies. The only thing
left in a girls life, despite an
avid interest in education, is
to take care of the household
and rear the livestock.
Poverty also plays a role
in hindering the education of
a girl child. According to
Abdul Rehman, nai b
sarpanch, Banloi, in addi-
tion to fencing and road con-
nectivity, poverty is also to be
blamed. In the absence of any
regular source of income,
most parents cannot afford
the transport fare.
I wish to continue my
studies even after class eight
as my dream is to become a
doctor and help the poor
and disabled people living a
miserable life in our village.
I wish to provide them treat-
ment free of cost but my
dream looks like it will always
remain a dream, says a sad-
dened Saima, currently study-
ing in class eight.
There are many more
Saimas in Banloi village who
have compromised with their
dreams and accepted the cur-
rent situation as their fate.
The Government has helped
them till class eight; they can
only hope that the State
realises the fact that they
aspire to a good education
and need a higher secondary
school to satiate their thirst
for knowledge. These girls
wish to change the world
around them, just like Malala.
Whether their dreams come
true remains to be seen.
There are many girls in Jammu & Kashmir who wish lo change lhe world around lhem, by gelling bellereducaled
and sreading educalion across. Their dreams can come lrue i lhe Slale aulhorilies hel oul lhese bravehearls
9Rg`T Z_ _R^V `W UVgV]`a^V_e
Srdeye 09
NEW DELH WEDNESDAY APRL 9, 2014
Our manifesto is not a paper document. t is
for us a dream, aim and a commitment. We
will meet our promises.
~BJP's prime ministerial candidate
NARENDRA MOD
BJP's manifesto is a laundry list of
disconnected ideas. t shows how seriously
they insult the intelligence of the people.
~Congress spokesperson
ABHSHEK MANU SNGHV
What has dictated
ESZs are interests
other than
ecological. For
instance, the ESZ
proposal for
Karlapat Wildlife
Sanctuary in
Kalahandi,
Odisha, was
limited to just one
kilometre on one
side due to
bauxite deposits
here, which
mining giant
Vedanta is said to
be eyeing after it
was denied
Niyamgiri
@?9>DCOUNTER@?9>D
W
hen the Union
Ministry of
Environment and
Forests issued a notifi-
cation in February
2014 for an eco-sensitive zone for
Sikkims Khangchendzonga National
Park considered one of the most
important protected areas in the
Himalayas it defied its own guide-
lines which call for ESZs to be a
shock-absorber for national parks and
sanctuaries. Khangchendzongas ESZ
spanned a mere 25 to 200 metres from
the park boundary, and like other parks
in Sikkim with equally miniscule pro-
tective zones, it aimed to accommodate
the States ambitious hydel dream,
rather than safeguard the ecology of the
protected areas.
While one understands that a
small State like Sikkim cannot afford
the 10km ESZ that is advised, it is unac-
ceptable that ESZs are deliberately
manipulated to circumvent wildlife
clearances for hydel projects.
Particularly so, in the light of a recent
National Board for Wildlife report
which points out that at least five dams
were being constructed in close prox-
imity to national parks and sanctuar-
ies in the State between 2006 and 2011
without mandatory NBWL permission-
and asks for a probe into the same.
Unfortunately, the Khangchendzonga
fiasco is being replicated across many of
Indias 600 odd protected areas, though
there are a few noteworthy exceptions.
According to a Supreme Court
order in 2006, no major industry or
infrastructure project can be allowed
within 10km boundary of national
parks and sanctuaries unless approved
by the Standing Committee of the
NBWL unless and until a site spe-
cific ESZ has been notified by the State.
In an ESZ, mining, hydel projects and
heavily polluting industries are banned,
while tourism, cutting of trees, electric
power lines, etc are regulated. Few
States enacted the apex court order,
delayed demarcating these safety zones
till a deadline was issued on December
31, 2012, by the Environment and
Forests Ministry.
Currently, about 400 such ESZs are
being reviewed by the Centre, but the
exercise, aimed to protect the ecology,
environment and local livelihoods,
appears to have been reduced to a
sham. Worried about how the process
would hit development and reported-
ly under pressure from mining and
industry lobbies, most States have
excluded several ecologically important
areas around the protected areas,
thereby defeating the very purpose of
the ESZ. Worse, the Centre seems to
be colluding with the States in this
process, so that development projects
can bypass the mandatory
wildlife clearance.
Taking note of this, members of the
NBWLs Standing Committee, pointed
out in a meeting that the methodolo-
gy of selection of many ESZs appears
to be arbitrary, and at times, influenced
by factors other than ecological and
pressed for a careful oversight mech-
anism. Yet, the process has been
opaque, with negligible involvement of
ecologists, conservationists or scientists
outside of the Government either at the
State or at the Centre.
A case in point is the two kilome-
tre-wide ESZ of Andhra Pradeshs
Pulicat Bird Sanctuary, which was
steered through in a hurry to accom-
modate the upcoming Dugarajapatnam
port, and thereby circumvent the
wildlife hurdle. This, despite the fact
that in 2007, the States chief wildlife
warden had, in 2007, recommended a
10km ESZ for Pulicat, the second
largest brackish water ecosystem in
India and also a proposed Ramsar site.
Lakhs of migratory waterfowl throng
the lake in winter. The port and ship
building centre will lead to massive
dredging and development of ancillary
industries will gravely damage the
fragile ecosystem of the lake.
According to the reports, a portion
of the land from the 5,300 acres pro-
posed for acquisition for the port is
actually located within the northern
boundary of the Pulicat lake and in its
vicinity. Being a thriving wetland
ecosystem, Pulicat also sustains the
livelihood of thousands of fisherfolk
with 46 villages depending on the lake
directly or indirectly for their liveli-
hood. Representatives of the Human
Rights Forum, who visited the site,
allege that the ESZ has been made with
the intention of facilitating statutory
clearances for the proposed port.
Another such ill-conceived ESZ is
of Gujarats Velavadar National Park (in
the Bhal region), home to the critical-
ly-endangered and endemic lesser flor-
ican, Indian wolf and blackbucks,
among other rare grassland fauna. It is
also the worlds largest roosting ground
for Montagus harriers. The park itself
is small, just about 35 sq km, and much
of its wildlife cranes, blackbucks,
wolves, foxes etc use the adjoining
grasslands and fields for denning and
feeding. Velvadar and the larger Bhal
landscape are threatened by the pro-
posed Dholera Special Investment
Region, reportedly a flagship project of
the Chief Minister.
The DSIR is being touted as a glob-
al manufacturing and trading hub, and
is envisaged to set up various industries
including heavily polluting chemical
factories, power project, highways, air-
port, business hubs, etc. Such mega-
scale activity will not just destroy the
park, but also stands to obliterate
nearly 1,000 sq km of fertile farmland
with no less than 15,000 families
dependent on it. Predictably, the pro-
posed ESZ carefully circumvents the
DSIR while leaving out many ecolog-
ically-fragile areas which are the feed-
ing grounds of the harriers and lesser
floricans. The Environment Impact
Assessment report of the DSIR states
that the park is situated just to the
south of DSIR boundary almost about
600 metres away and goes on to note
the presence of wolf and fox dens in the
area. It concludes that blackbucks are
distributed in half of the villages com-
ing under the DSIR.
Scant regard has been paid to
local sentiments as well. For instance,
there has been strong public sentiment
against hydel projects in Sikkim, as the
dams are expected to drown sacred
landscapes in West Sikkim, which is
believed to be the cradle of the erstwhile
Buddhist Kingdom. Nor do conse-
quences matter as witnessed in the
tragedy of Uttarakhand floods or the
2011 Sikkim earthquake, which accord-
ing to some studies, could have been
induced or triggered by the presence of
multiple dams on the river Teesta and
its tributaries.
What has dictated ESZs instead, are
interests other than ecological. For
instance, the ESZ proposal for Karlapat
Wildlife Sanctuary in Kalahandi,
Odisha, was limited to just one kilome-
tre on one side due to bauxite deposits
here, which mining giant Vedanta is
said to be eyeing after it was denied
Niyamgiri. Kuldihas (Odisha) safety
zone was reduced, reportedly at the
intervention of the Chief Minister and
at the behest of the mining, industries
and revenue departments, in consider-
ation of the stone quarries in the area.
This, even when wildlife officials point-
ed out that by prioritising the quarries
and crushers frequently used migrato-
ry paths of elephants (and tigers)
between Kuldiha and Similipal Tiger
Reserve were being sacrificed. This
entire area, including the quarries, lie
within the Similipal Biosphere Reserve
and Mayurbhanj Elephant Reserve.
In Jharkhand, too, it was largely the
writ of the mining industry that dictat-
ed the ESZs. The Telegraph reports that
in 2011, steel major Tata wrote to the
Centre, asking for the ESZ of Dalma
Wildlife Sanctuary to be halved from
the 10km proposed by the state, citing
fears of adverse effects on its industri-
al activities. Two years later in January
2013, a senior official of Tata Steel again
appealed to the Centre to reduce the
safety zone to a mere 500 metres, a
move resisted by the concerned forest
officers who called this demand unrea-
sonable, and not in the interest of pro-
tecting the parks biodiversity.
(The writer is trustee, Bagh, mem-
ber, State Board for Wildlife,
Uttarakhand, and a former member of
the National Board for Wildlife)
Jle fearless Malalas of ]&K
tlinl
now
C
hildren are living
beings ~ more living
than grown-up
people who have built
shells of habit around
themselves. Therefore, it
is absolutely necessary
for their mental health
and development that
they should not have
mere schools for their
lessons, but a world
whose guiding spirit is
personal love.
~Rabindranath Tagore
DYZWeZ_X W`Tfd Wc`^
<RdY^Zc e` ;R^^f
The hi/bul Mujahideen's recenl allack in Kalhua dislricl
is a reminder lhal lhe YXWPSX grou has comelling
reasons lo inlensiy ils camaign oulside lhe valley
l is unaccelable lhal ecosensilive /ones should be deliberalely maniulaled lo circumvenl wildlie clearances or
hydel rojecls. Bul il has haened, olen under lhe relexl lhal cerlain small Slales cannol aord large ESZs =8:78; A0H<>=3 ?DA8
FRST
COLUMN
0
n March 28, mililanls launched a lworonged allack in Jammu
& Kashmir's Kalhua dislricl. They irsl inlerceled and carjacked
a vehicle on JammuFalhankole highway, killing lwo and injur
ing lhree o ils (civilian) occuanls. They lhen migraled lowards an
Army cam in Kalhua dislricl's Janglole area, where lhey killed one
Army jawan and wounded several olhers.
nilially, an organisalion called Shohada Brigade claimed reson
sibilily or lhe allacks. A day laler, hi/bul Mujahideen suremo and uniled
Jihad Council chie Syed Salahuddin declared lhal Shohada Brigade
is a surrogale grou delermined lo increase mililancy in Jammu divi
sion. while lhe seciic aellalion o lhis hM roxy merely serves lo
dislracl, ils Jammucenlric urose is meaningul. There are lhree rea
sons why Salahuddin and his uJC arlners may wanl lo escalale lheir
oeralions in Jammu division.
For a conglomerale claiming lo devole ilsel lo lhe "liberalion" o
Jammu & Kashmir as a whole, uJC's oeralional oolrinl is concen
lraled in Kashmir division. 0nly 12 er cenl o mililanl allacks since
lhe beginning o 2O1O have occurred in Jammu while lhe overwhelm
ing majorily (88 er cenl) have been direcled al largels in Kashmir. n
order lo uhold Jammu & Kashmir's slalus as a uniormly "dislurbed
area", lhe uJC needs lo dislribule ils allenlion more equilably. The uJC
could ossibly osel lhe inrequency o ils allacks in Jammu by mak
ing each allack more imaclul. This is somelhing il has ailed lo do.
The uJC has soughl lo amliy lhe imacl o ils allacks lhrough
liming. The imacl o lasl monlh's allacks in Kalhua dislricl was no
doubl inlensiied by lhe ucoming Lok Sabha eleclion. Similarly, lhe
allacks in Kalhua and Samba dislricls in Selember lasl year were dra
malic because lhey reaced scheduled eace lalks belween ndia and
Fakislan. Bul liming can only be a shorllerm laclic as il inevilably sub
jecls uJC's oeralions lo somebody else's solly calendar.
The second reason why lhe uJC mighl choose lo increase ils allacks
in Jammu has lo do wilh lhe eleclion. while searalisls' calls or a
oll boycoll are widely honoured in Kashmir, lhey are barely audible
in Jammu. n lhe 2OOO Lok Sabha eleclion, or inslance, lurnoul in
Kashmir's consliluencies was only 81 er cenl while nearly 48 er cenl
o Jammu division's eleclorale lurned oul lo vole. The abilily o mili
lanls lo dislurb lhe elecloral rocess in Kashmir is limiled by lhe acl
lhal lurnoul in lhis region is already very oor. n Jammu, on lhe olher
hand, lhe uJC has more olenlial lo alably dislurb elecloral roceed
ings. From ils erseclive, lhis would be an oorlune lime lo recal
ibrale ils geograhic ocus since lhe Lok Sabha and lhe Assembly elec
lions are bolh scheduled or lhis year.
The uJC may wanl lo reduce ils neglecl o Jammu division or a
lhird reason. unlike Kashmir division - where Muslims conslilule more
lhan O5 er cenl o lhe oulalion - Jammu division is diverse in
religious lerms. This makes Jammu relalively rone lo communal len
sions o lhe kind wilnessed in Kishlwar lasl year. Salahuddin has made
no secrel o lhe acl lhal such unresl serves his YXWPSX camaign by
ushing youlh lowards mililancy. uJC may lhus seek lo omenl ur
lher disharmony by slaging allacks and increasing lhe likelihood lhal
securily orces resond in ways lhal aear disroorlionale or rej
udiced. Also, Salahuddin is aware lhal lhe increasingly oreign origin
o his mililanls comromises hM's slalus as an indigenous orce. he
may be willing lo give Jammu's dislricls more allenlion i lhis allows
him lo reverse lhe lrend and secure more local recruils.
Kashmir's dislricls - arlicularly Baramulla, Fulwama, and Srinagar
- will remain lhe reerred sile o lhe uJC's mililanl camaign. Al
lhe same lime, comelling reasons exisl or il lo shil gears. 0nly lime
will lell whelher lhe mosl recenl allacks in Kalhua dislricl reresenl
such a slralegic shil or jusl anolher exhibilion o 'good' liming.
(CWT PdcW^a Xb P 3?WX[ RP]SXSPcT Pc cWT D]XeTabXch ^U >gU^aS)