Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Reader comment: no more Mr. Nice Guy/Gal on Kashmir largesse

November 23

This is self-explanatory. Any ideas?

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As a tax paying citizen of this country, I am outraged at this latest
largesse to kashmir. I am part of the miniscule group that pay taxes
in this country and I have no say in how the money is spent. Everyday
I drive to work on roads with potholes that can swallow me whole!
fight traffic on narrow congested roads and have to drive around
stalled projects to build flyovers. Every time I travel I look at the
pathetic airports, railway stations that stink to high heaven.
Shouldnt we get something back for all the taxes we are paying?
Considering that the southern states, punjab, haryana and maharashtra
are the most productive states in the country, shouldnt we get back
some of that money to improve our conditions and infrastructure. Isnt
that our right?

This last thing (kashmir dole out) has kind of pushed me over the
edge. I want to do something about it. I think the ranks of the middle
class has swelled enough to be able to make our votes count and our
voices heard. The problem is that most of the middle class are
ignorant of these things and are apathetic.
I want to do something to raise the awareness on these issues in
people. But I dont really know how to do it. Can you suggest some
ways? point me to people who you know are doing these things?
Enough of sitting on my butt. I want to be heard!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It may interest you to know that the money for Kashmir primarily comes from a Bretton-Woods largesse and not your pithy tax contribution to the Indian government. The past six governments have not come up with concrete solutions to the Kashmir problem, atleast this one is trying. For one economic input is the only way of absorbing J&K into the mainstream since this means increased employment for the educated youth and others who are among the chief agitators in Kashmir. Please think if your silly pothole getting fixed is more important than an entire state's war-scars beign removed. I was apalled by your utter lack of regard for J&K as an integral part of the Indian union. This state needs finance as much as Bihar or Orissa or Nagaland. And I am not a Kashmiri, so don't think of this as a knee-jerk reaction.

prasank said...

Could you tell more about this largesse? Also, in many of the life indexes, JK actually ranks very high up. Also, pumping money in is not going to solve the war problem as long as there is pakistan. So, its much better to help the real poor in some other states than doling out huge money and pampering any one state. we are sending out wrong signals here.