Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to provide reprieve from compliance to taxpayers and businesses. What’s urgently needed is a comprehensive relief package for businesses and the poor. Time shouldn’t be wasted as an already slowing economy is now gasping amid lockdowns prompted by the coronavirus crisis.
Abdullahs’ release signals resumption of J&K politics, but they must reinvent in a new Kashmir
Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah’s release from months-long detention are concrete steps towards the resumption of mainstream politics in Jammu and Kashmir. More releases will follow. But the August 5th move on special status is irrevocable. Politicians in Kashmir must reinvent their business-as-usual politics and relevance in the changed circumstances.
Designing a relief package is a tricky effort. Apart from strained public finances, we do not know how long the pandemic will last. 2. Consider airlines, which should normally have been the first to be offered relief. If all flights are grounded for a long period, some of them could go bust. The recovery of air traffic will also be painfully slow, easily take one year. 3. We are in uncharted waters. A better economic team would help.
Both sides need to reach out to each other. The project of creating a new kind of politics, helmed by the King’s party, is still born. More than political reengineering, what Kashmir needs immediately is the restoration of normal economic activity. Will tourists return to the Valley in earlier numbers, helping heal a battered economy. When private investment has dried up all over the country, predating Covid 19 by years, what is the prospect of large investments flowing into Kashmir. The promise of a new domicile law, “ better than in any other part of the country “, belies the promise(s) underlying abrogation of Articles 370 and 35 A. 2. If there is seriousness of intent, let restoration of statehood take place soon.