Cyber Bullying: A Trap

The present generation of youth around us is growing up in a technology driven society. And its impact is visible on their lives too. This generation is continuously utilizing this technological boom. In fact they love to be around and into it. A generation older to this generation has started using this tech boom but with a lot less knowledge. But they don’t prefer to be 'plugged in' or 'associated' with technology the whole day. The young people have an entirely opposite choice and compulsion for staying connected in this technological driven world. Such a style where technology is so much into young people’s lives, this is undeniably something that has totally altered the way our society works and communicates these days. From few ‘text’ to ‘heavy data sharing’ is a new norm.  Also in a way, most young people have enslaved themselves with the internet, social media and technology.

There is no leisure time in life which has killed creativity and caused stress and brought substantially more dangerous internet harassment, also referred to as “cyber bullying” in young people's lives. This “cyber bullying”   is approaching young people consistently and this trend of digital harassment is wreaking havoc all over the world. The children, teens, and working women in particular are the big targets of this “cyber bullying”. Such situation arises in shape of bullying, harassment, threat or maliciously embarrassing other person with behaviors such as sending unsolicited and/or threatening e-mail, viruses, spreading rumors, making defamatory comments about the victim online, through fake id’s impersonating the victim, harassing the victim during a live chat, abusing on social media sites, sending the pornography or other material that is knowingly offensive.

Cyber bullying existed before the growth of this social media era. Earlier too trolling happened. But then it was done in the chat rooms. Sharing of inappropriate photos and secrets of other people online too happened along with spreading rumors digitally. However, these days as more people connect via social media incidents of cyber bullying have increased. Various statistics show social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter etc are a hotspot for cyber bullying.  Creation of a fake profile in someone else's name happens on such platforms and then come instances where vulgar or obscene photos of a victim are posted through such fake profiles.

One of the reasons is the increased access of Indians to the internet with teenagers being the most vulnerable victims of cyber bullying. Male and female both are affected due to this menace but negligible people report the issue in India because they are afraid of being judged in this conservative society we live in. Under Section 354D, 499, 500, 503 and 66 E of the IPC such bullies can be easily booked if the complaint is lodged with the nearest police officials at any time one becomes a victim of such cyber crime. Cyber bullying has become a trap as technology has made addicts out of numerous Indians even in small towns.

In the past some years, Jammu-Kashmir too has seen rise in such cases. But most matters go unreported. To sensitize people to report such matters is a big challenge. For this nothing is done by local administration which can bring change in the mindset of people. Just think, have you ever seen any campaigns, awareness drives etc in Jammu on this topic by the administration? Such confidence building measures should be taken so that those who file a complaint on such issues are not stigmatized at the social level which causes the victim extreme mental anguish later. With nothing done on ground by the government, people feel helpless, hurtful and emotionally scarred after getting bullied online.

Even men are getting bullied online and they also want to stay anonymous while filing such complaints. So firstly, if people decide not to come forward and report such matters then cyber units of the Jammu-Kashmir police should work to identify such individuals who operate on social media with fake accounts and bring them to task. Additionally, the help can come from the scheme called "Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C)" set up by the MHA. This scheme is formulated to deal with all types of cybercrimes in the country in a coordinated and comprehensive manner and it should be implemented in a stronger manner in J&K. Moreover, awareness programs to educate the students to use safe and secure online platforms should be done. This in turn will enable the public to report such incidents if special focus is laid on cases against women and children. It is extremely simple to make up for lost time by starting against this menace at the earliest.

DGPC Elections: Young Voters To Impact Result

Ever since the J&K government announced the schedule for holding of District Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (DGPC) elections, the Sikh community in the entire J&K is in cheerful mood. Various Sikh organizations have been demanding conduct of these elections in the J&K as they were due for almost 2 years.  In these 2 years some people from Sikh community were nominated to run Gurudwara affairs. This nomination process also caused delay in conduct of these elections which in turn impacted the management of the Gurudwaras. Earlier personal political affiliations of DGPC members led to internal discord within DGPC many times and it created discontentment for the voters. Initially, like in any election, efforts by the Sikh candidates are focused on luring the Sikh voters for DGPC elections. But with the advent of the era of social media and sharing of information, the fake electoral promises can ruin the prospects of many candidates in upcoming elections. 

This time, the role the Sikh youth is going to play in DGPC elections can be judged with new and positive strategic changes on the community level. Previously it has been seen that talks & efforts of elected candidates changed after completion of this election process. However, this time the youth is prepared to humbly ask candidates - to what extent such poll promises will be realized by them? The Sikh youth appear to have made up its mind to not accept half-truth or complete lies from the candidates in election season. This fresh approach is a favorable indication and the best possible step for the future of Sikh community and for management of the affairs of Gurudwaras. Adding more to it is that some youth organizations have announced their candidates in this election and are supporting Gursikh, educated, hardworking, young and dynamic candidates. 

The visible result is that in various constituencies new faces have stepped-in this electoral fight. There is also massive undercurrent for change in the voters in all the constituencies. Those who have ears to hear can listen to that. Many voters seem to have decided to put aside vested interests and fulfill responsibility in the best possible manner by electing the people of high moral character to represent the Sikh community in J&K. Sikh youth vote in this election will become the ‘game changer’ in every constituency. Youth turn out will impact election results to run the affairs of Sikh community. Young men and women voters want to elect only those who can later become role models and put efforts to unite the community. The intervention of political powers and indirect invasion in the Sikh affairs should be stopped with humility and total sincerity by the Sikh voters. 

It’s time to think about and chart a course to establish truth and righteousness by ending the circumstances which fail to help the Sikh community every time after the DGPC elections. The J&K Sikh community doesn’t want to suffer more by electing those who fail to implement ‘rehat maryada’ (Sikh code of religious conduct). Sitting on the ‘chair’ founded to manage Sikh places of worship just for social prestige is the biggest sin. Besides, just getting media attention on controversial issues and building political platforms shouldn’t be the target of DGPC members. In future by getting elected as a member of DGPC, every individual should focus on propagation of Sikhism, to build schools, colleges and hospitals for catering to Sikh community needs. Only priority should be to follow the path of Gurus by helping the weak and treat them with dignity and respect.

COVID Is Changing

After COVID-19 variants BA.2.10 and BA.2.12 being found in many states of India, now some people in Pune have tested positive for the BA.4 and BA.5 sub variant of the Omicron strain of corona virus.  The experts have already warned of such mutations of this virus. Moreover, the WHO has said that the decline in number of cases is due to a drop in testing. Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) has clearly stated that Geneva is now rapidly becoming the epicenter of COVID-19. Some countries in the world again have entered into the post-emergency phase as constantly rising cases in countries like Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Netherland are being noted since the beginning of March this year. North Korea too is grappling with this virus without access to anti-virus vaccine.  Although COVID pandemic has been here for a long time and everyone is tired mentally with it, still we need to be very cautious especially after having survived the previous three waves because the pandemic is not ready to vanish yet.

Perhaps with such new variants found in different Indian states and in the midst of the trend of isolated increased cases of infection in some Indian states, COVID can revive anytime. Interestingly, low restrictions are visible in public places of Jammu city and that indicates that the open threat prevails here too. Till now under the joint efforts by the J&K administration and the central government we have been provided guidance and the surveillance was high but suddenly the entire social system appears to behave as if COVID-19 is gone. All activities have resumed like in the pre-pandemic period and this is going to result in a spike in COVID cases. We can find similarities in Jammu to the WHO statement as Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) drive by local administration for COVID-19 testing too has dropped significantly. Such a situation is adding to the misinformation brewing around corona virus numbers because with such a pattern being followed, we are turning blind to the pattern of transmission and evolution of this deadly virus.

It is a fact that people in Jammu and Kashmir cannot face another wave very soon. Otherwise we will have to face many repercussions which will come along with another wave. Still the sufferings of the common man aren’t over and the impact caused by earlier COVID waves on our life is visible. The reality remains that we aren’t out of this pandemic even after the vaccination drives going continuously in India to fight against COVID-19. Vaccination plans have been expanded with precaution dose and teenage vaccine drives started across the country. But by now we have also learnt that vaccines aren't the ultimate cover and we should not let our guard down. In addition, we shouldn’t increase our confidence with the low number of cases being reported in J&K. After seeing the casualties caused by this virus around us in Jammu, let’s not forget that COVID is still changing and still killing every day. 

Amid the pandemic, all the sensible and responsible decisions of the J&K UT administration taken in the past should continue. Masks should be made compulsory, social distancing be monitored and supervised by imposing penalties. And the public must follow all the health protocols if we want to curb the fourth wave. Already Jammu-Kashmir suffers from poor health infrastructure and the last COVID wave brought all residents, irrespective of their financial and social standing, to their knees. So if the need arises for handling mass casualty emergencies we may not be able to meet the demand for healthcare facilities. That said, we cannot rush to the conclusion with the daily corona virus infections data coming out and precautions are needed to prevent another wave to arrive on our doorstep.

Empower PoJK Refugees Politically

The Delimitation Commission under its final order on Jammu & Kashmir has recommended the nomination of displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in the Legislative Assembly of J&K. Initially, the Commission has ruled out de-freezing of 24 seats reserved for PoJK people in J&K under delimitation drive. And due to it all thought that political doors for these PoJK refugees are again closed. But this latest and unpredicted recommendation to the Union Government (made on the pattern adopted in the Legislative Assembly of Union Territory of Puducherry) once again has raised political hopes in this entire community waiting for political justice at the hands of successive governments. This recommendation made by the Commission appears to be the greatest step to empower PoJK refugees politically in J&K. The entire PoJK community feared that after the Delimitation, the benefits the central government had promised to Jammuites from dilution of Article 370 and 35A won’t reach them ever.

This step suggested in the favour of PoJK refugees seems to have come after various PoJK delegations fought with logic, commitment and integrity before the Commission that they even after 70 years are forced to live as refugees in their own country in absence of political empowerment.  The truth is that it was not so easy for PoJK people to reach this milestone after 70 years. It’s difficult to put in precisely when politically things started to move in favour of PoJK people because in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, 24 seats were kept vacant under the J&K Constitution for the natives of the PoJK in the J&K Legislative Assembly under section 48 of the J&K Constitution. In 2014, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs also recommended the de-freezing of eight 'reserved' seats for the PoJK community. It was also suggested that the Government of India should take up the matter of de-freezing these seats with the State Government and impress upon the J&K Government to make amendments in the J&K Constitution. But nothing was done to shut the debate.

For sure this should have been settled a long time back by the politicians who always promised to deliver results. Now the ball is in the central government's court and hope remains that soon some sharp mind full of enthusiasm would settle this problem. Getting reservation in the assembly is like getting 'last wish' fulfilled because all these refugees were promised an amount of Rs 25 to 30 lakh but were paid only Rs 5.5 lakh and even the process of registration of PoJK refugees has been stopped. Finally to end this political flaw, the Government of India must act without further delay as assembly elections are due in J&K and this move will benefit BJP because the population of PoJK refugees in the J&K is estimated at 14 lakh, with nearly 7 lakh of them registered as voters settled in different assembly constituencies. That’s a pure reflection of the political weight this community holds in the Jammu region.

Moreover, while addressing the media  in July last year J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina said that they have demanded reservation for PoJK refugees by unfreezing the 8 assembly seats from the PoJK quota to give adequate representation to them in the assembly.   For BJP, challenge and opportunity stands together and now it is for them to take the political incentive or penalty. Entire PoJK community is now looking forward to the BJP led Government of India for collective justice and fairness to ‘change the world’ for them. Undoubtedly, without political empowerment the idea of fair democracy would be incomplete for PoJK people living here. There could be resistance to implement the recommendation of the Commission but the government this time is expected to play a decisive and historic role for the coming generation of this community and simply open gates for their future as well.

Power Crisis: Theft A Prime Reason

The year 2022 has brought the whole country under power cuts and normal life has got affected in many metro cities of India. Majorly the people in states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are suffering and the coal shortage is the reason behind this newly developed power shortage across India. But for Jammu, power cuts are a routine every summer. Sadly, this year is the worst for Jammu and the reason behind it is the coal shortage in India. Usually power demand in Jammu in the month of May increases, however this year this increased demand is not getting fulfilled, resulting in major power crisis.

This worst scenario has taken political debate surrounding power cuts to a new level. Interestingly, areas which are BJP’s strongholds in Jammu are seeing people out on the streets to demand regular power supply. On the other hand, Kashmir based political leaders alleged that curtailment of electricity during the month of Ramzan was done deliberately to bother people and play with their sentiments. Even the president of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) issued a warning to the J&K administration that the consumers will stop paying bills if the crisis is not resolved immediately.

Amid all this, the question remained as to why this situation couldn’t be brought under control? Infact with every passing year electricity cuts in the summer season are becoming worse. Against all this, the J&K PDD department never took serious efforts to prevent this situation from becoming a crisis. Two reasons were openly visible for this deteriorating problem; firstly, there are transmission and distribution (T&D) losses and secondly, losses due to the ‘power theft’. The first reason is a technical problem but second is purely man made and if rightly said in words it’s ‘invention of PDD officers’. This ‘invented problem’ is now worth crores of rupees. So where is this money generated out of theft, bribery, and other illegal activities going?

Surprisingly, PDD’s Special Task Force (STF) created to check unauthorized use of electricity never detected this ‘power theft’ and flow of money associated with it. This situation reflects that these illegal electricity connections are running only due to the connivance of many officers in the department. Instead of making efforts to eliminate power theft, some officers have created a parallel income method by allowing power theft in Jammu. This is happening in both rural and urban areas of Jammu and is so deep rooted that for decades no one was ever found involved and dealt with under the law.

Only extensive tours of the various power stations of Jammu won’t bring us out of this annual power crisis. Visits to identify the ‘power theft’ which is a prime reason should be done and concerning officers should be held responsible. Because when we go to any residential or commercial area, we find illegal power connections which cannot operate without facilitation by PDD officers. All illegal connections are being tolerated due to bribery. And this modus operandi adopted by PDD officers and by some unscrupulous elements in the society is causing the genuine and honest consumers to suffer.

Needed: A Commitment To Save Tawi

Remember the time when we were told by our elders about the rushing waters in the Tawi river. It wasn’t so long ago. Now when you look around the dry bed of the Tawi river it makes us realize that this river is almost dead. These days when we navigate for our work lives over any of the Tawi bridges in Jammu, the dumps of garbage are easily visible on the river bed. Well, let’s not hesitate to say that the river with religious beliefs and cultural heritage attached to it has no caretaker. Since centuries, this river has been revered by the people in Jammu yet no one could stop it from reaching this present day position. While on Earth Day's and other days dedicated to environmental protection, slogans to save it are continuously being raised but the result shows a picture of neglect. In fact, this ‘slipping situation’ was created by those sitting comfortably in their offices and who assumed themselves to be the real ‘power center’ by always ridiculing every opportunity to save this heritage of Jammu. Now it indicates that standing tall in a social-political-civil circle isn’t enough to save this river.

Flowing down from glacial sources of Sudhmahadev ranges in Udhampur to reach a stage where its bed is dry now, these days this river has an important proposed project of ‘artificial lake’ on it. In future, this river will become a place for recreational boating once the proposed project takes shape. The State Pollution Control Board should shoulder the responsibility for failure to save this river as till today large amounts of waste packed in polythene go into the river on a daily basis without being checked by the board. They have many schemes of segregating the biodegradable and non biodegradable waste but that all lies in the books of the board. Only the State Pollution Control Board should not be blamed because the most polluted stretch of river Tawi is within municipal limits and Jammu Municipal Corporation is also the agency that is responsible for the control and prevention of the pollution in the river. The degradation of Tawi river reflects that by just preparing several DPR's in office for controlling pollution in Tawi river and occasionally requesting the general public through hoardings to keep the river ‘Tawi Clean- Green’ Jammu Municipal Corporation has failed to educate people about the pollution-free Tawi.

In the backdrop of everything that has happened, one thing is very clear that taking serious note of the rising pollution in river Tawi was never a priority. The situation is alarming in nature now because this river is fully polluted and contaminated to an extent that people don't even want to take a dip in it. Simply the main reasons for this pollution were discharge of untreated sewage, effluents, erosion, transportation and sedimentation of rocks, soils, agriculture runoff. Moreover, solid waste dumping sites created adjacent to the bank of river Tawi was a big blunder which also contributed to pollution of Tawi water. All this could have been very easily taken into account but nobody cared to work comprehensively against any of these factors because of the reasons best known to them. So far several crores have been spent to clean this river under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Smart City Mission of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) etc. but no change is visible for revival of this dying river.  Various environmentalists have pointed out through quantitative analysis of pollution and pathogenic bacteria of river Tawi about drastic change in water of Tawi and this is really dangerous for future generations. Several health issues are bound to rise with such changes seen in the water of Tawi, which presently is the main source of drinking water supplies for Jammu city and its outskirts.

Economy of Jammu also relies heavily on agriculture and lower availability of water in Tawi for irrigation will impact the agrarian economy of Jammu. And this loss will be the greatest challenge for Jammu over the coming decades. Let’s look closer and try to state in more simple words that with drying up of Tawi we lost our biodiversity that provided habitat for plants and animals. Just due to non-implementation of various acts and laws to save Tawi water we have reached this position. The judicial intervention in it through PILs played only a limited role to stop this deterioration of the Tawi. Clearly, large scale construction in Jammu and illegal mining wreaked havoc and created the 'death bed' for this river.  Perhaps, it is silly to believe that we never had effective remedial measures vis a vis technologies available to save this polluted river. We don’t need to play games any longer to save Tawi, the only thing needed is the effective implementation of various laws, schemes, policies etc. This ‘Suryaputri’ which acts as a lifeline in the lives of people should be saved before talking of its transformation. The local community of Jammu has to play a big part to make people here self disciplined, aware and responsible to protect this river. Only choosing to go for a complete makeover of this heritage river in our hands won’t serve for long. The need is for permanent commitment to save Tawi. Moreover, the heritage, religious value of ‘Suryaputri’ should be a priority because only thinking of the economic value of this river will just add to the death of river Tawi.

Sikhs Disappointed With Delimitation Exercise

When both articles 370 & 35-A were amended under J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 political and social hopes increased in the Sikh community of J&K. It’s true that every Sikh family living in J&K was not happy with amendments done in these both articles. But somewhere adding to joy was the fresh map issued by the Government of India in November 2019 which showed PoJK as part of Jammu and Kashmir. Moreover, the clauses in the above said act also reflected that the delimitation process has to take place and this generated hope among some Sikhs that a road forward will be created to ensure political & social empowerment of their community. Besides, political and social relief seemed near, as the above said act mandated creation of new assembly constituencies in J&K. The Sikh community which suffered majorly due to partition of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 took this moment as an opportunity which can provide them a bright future. It was also because, after 1947 Sikhs settled in areas like Bhor, Chatha, Simbal, Gadigarh, Badyal Brahmana, Keerian Gandyal and Raj Bagh of Jammu region lived in such conditions which cannot be defined in words. Furthermore, in the last 70 years they were never given their share in politics as political parties didn’t care for the community members in particular.

Then came March 2020 and the three-member delimitation commission headed by Justice (Retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai was set up for the purpose of drawing up the boundaries of assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies . Sikhs living in areas like Gandhi Nagar, RS Pura, Suchetgarh, Nowshera and Vijaypur in Jammu region and Batmaloo, Baramulla and Tral in Kashmir region started feeling empowered as they thought that these areas may take shape of assembly constituencies after the delimitation exercise gets completed. Another thought floated that 24 seats reserved for PoJK refugees would be de-freezed and allotted to the PoJK refugees settled in Jammu. Interestingly, the majority of the Sikhs living in J&K are PoJK refugees and for the last 70 years, these PoJK refugees always demanded proper representation in the J&K assembly. So this time the Sikh community was sure of getting their political share either in the form of reservation in seats or under quota of seats already reserved for PoJK refugees.

As the process for delimitation moved ahead, several Sikh delegations met the Commission members in Jammu as well as in Kashmir and in a way pleaded before them to get some constituencies reserved for the local Sikh community. After the lengthy process followed in the past two years and amid ongoing pandemic and after facing delays Delimitation Commission proposed in a draft report that six more seats will be given in the Jammu region and only one additional seat in Kashmir. Now the new proposed legislative assembly house of J&K would consist of 90-members.  Infact 16 assembly seats under the proposed draft are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Jammu & Kashmir.

Sadly, the Delimitation Commission has ruled out reserving any seat for Sikh community and even de-freezing of 24 seats reserved for PoJK people weren’t done under delimitation drive. Although what all work has been done by the Commission is a welcome move but in total Sikhs who came from Rawalakot, Muzaffarabad, Bhimber, Kotli, Bagh and Mirpur areas are disappointed with the delimitation exercise because issues of the community were left unaddressed. Talking of the present situation, now the work of Delimitation Commission is nearing to end as recently Commission held meetings with members of the public and civil society groups who have submitted suggestions and objections on its draft delimitation proposal. In these visible conditions put forth by the Delimitation Commission nothing changed politically for Sikh community and Sikhs feel alienated again as there would be none to represent Sikhs, their problems and concerns in the new Assembly of J&K.