Implementation of time-bound policies, action plans and development strategies post abrogation of Article 370, a temporary provision in the Constitution, have put 'Naya Jammu and Kashmir' on the path of economic self-reliance. The recently released JK Economic Survey 2022-23 is a notch higher than the national average. It's an indication that the Union Territory is marching towards goals that seemed unachievable till August 5, 2019--when the Centre announced its decision to revoke J&K's so-called special status and bifurcate it into two Union Territories. The survey report stated, "JK is expected to grow at 8 per cent as against 7 per cent at the national level during 2022-23 at constant prices. At current prices, the GSDP of JK is expected to record a growth of 15 per cent which is at par with the national level. The economy of JK has grown faster than the national average in recent years." The Economic Survey applauded the efforts of the government to carry forward and sustain the positive environment and momentum of economic development. It mentioned various reforms initiated for good governance and transparency, which includes IT-enabled innovations in the administration. Till 2019, various surveys were used to paint a grim picture of J&K's economy and its growth. However, during the past three years, the scenario has changed completely. Further, according to the survey, J&K has secured prime ranking in different parameters of registering growth and development. "Be it the Ist rank among the UTs in its e-office uptake in almost 400 offices with a disposal rate of 97 per cent, first rank among UTs in Renewable Energy Development, Ist rank among the UTs in registration coverage under e-SHRAM, Ist rank among the UTs in the issuance of SWAMITVA Cards, 2nd rank in Nasha Mukt Abhyaan, 2nd rank in performance under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahostav, 3rd rank at all India level in terms of total road length constructed under PMGSY, 4th rank in incremental progress of SDG, or 5th rank in reducing regulatory compliances burden under ease of doing business at all India level," stated the survey. Jammu and Kashmir has seen massive development sice the scrapping of Article 370. In three years, the erstwhile princely state has achieved what it couldn't in 70 years. The decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led regime to end J&K's status quo and merge it completely with the Union of India changed the destinies of the people. It has led to Union Territory turning into a vibrant economy and has brought peace to the region, which suffered Pakistan-sponsored terrorism for three long decades. The rerturn of peace to J&K, especially Kashmir, has instilled a sense of security among the common people. They are no longer subservient to the dictates of Pakistan-sponsored separatists and terrorists. They are free to carry on with their daily chores without any shutdown calls, stone-pelting incidents and street protests. A common man is reaping the dividends of peace and J&K's Economic Survey 2022-23 has vindicated that the steps taken by the Central government and the local administration have made the lives of people easier. J&K is no more infamous for cross-firings, killings and grenade attacks. Since 2019, it has emerged as the favourite tourist destination in the country as more than 1.88 crore tourists visited the region in the year 2022. Investments worth thousands of crores have reached JK, more than 30,000 youth have been provided with government jobs in the past three years and lakhs of young men and women have availed the benefits of the various centrally sponsored self-employment schemes post abrogation of Article 370. J&K residents have become equal stakeholders in peace, prosperity and development. They have been provided with a plethora of opportunities to build their careers and eke out their livings in a decent way. The war against corruption and building a transparent system has changed the very concept of governance in the Union Territory. A common man's wait in long queues to get an audience from the concerned authorities has ended. He can reach the top officials through various online grievance redressal mechanism systems that have been put in place during the past three years. Notably, the J&K Economic Survey, 2022- 23 has highlighted the reformative initiatives such as District Good Governance Index, Aspirational Blocks Development Programme, Aspirational Panchayat Development Programme, and Aspirational Towns Programme rolled out for the first time in the country. It hailed the J&K administration for introducing the new reforms to build a strong and vibrant Jammu and Kashmir. World-class National highways, expressways, tunnels, bridges, flyovers, and ring roads are coming up in the Union Territory. Kashmir is all set to get connected with the rest of the country through a railway network by the end of this year. Airports have been upgraded. Jammu and Srinagar being developed as 'Smart Cities' is yet another achievement of the government. The survey has pointed out that J&K's power generation capacity is likely to double in the next 4 years and triple in 8 years. Massive response of people to the outreach programmes like "My Town My Pride" and "Back to Village" programs has also been highlighted in the Economic Survey Report. The common man in J&K has seen the light at the end of the tunnel after seven long decades. For 70 years he was told by the politicians, who claimed to be the representatives of the people, that J&K cannot witness any development till talks are held with Pakistan and the terrorists sponsored by it. When Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, he made it explicitly clear that the Centre would neither hold parleys with Pakistan nor the terrorists, instead, the government would talk to the people of JK and would address all their concerns. He has remained true to his words. A zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism and Prime Minister Modi's firm resolve that "talks and terror" cannot go together have made J&K terror-free. It has brought the Union Territory at par with the rest of the country. The results are evident as J&K's Economic Survey 2022-23 is a notch higher than the national average. 

Worried about its over-reliance on foreign-made weapons, India banned the import of various arms systems and components. Experts warn India's military is now facing equipment shortages. For those who believe that India is under threat from its militarily powerful neighbors, the question of how and where to acquire modern weapons is a question of life and death. Right-wing populist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time and again called for India to become "self-reliant" in procuring arms and defense technology ever since he came to power in 2014. "The state of the world today teaches us that a self-reliant India is the only path," Modi said in a 2020 address to the nation as a response to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, New Delhi has focused on self-reliance in various sectors, including food processing, electronics and military equipment and systems. But the push towards domestic production and procurement — or indigenization — of weapons and military equipment still has a way to go. India is currently among the top five importers of weapons in the world. To augment its homegrown development and production capacities, India has placed import bans on a number of military systems and components. The Defense Ministry has also produced lists of items that the Indian armed forces will be forced to procure from local manufacturers. However, a report by Bloomberg, a business news agency, in September suggested that India is not making "enough weapons locally" to meet its defense needs and is reportedly facing a weapons "shortage" due to Modi's call to make India self-reliant through his "Make in India" policy. This has raised concerns over whether self-reliance can meet India's defense needs in light of the threats presented by India's most powerful neighbors: China and Pakistan. Why is India pursuing self-reliance? Experts say that a clear reason for the government's self-reliance push for the armed forces is that it does not have the funds to go shopping in the global market and pay the kind of prices that countries charge when it comes to high-tech weaponry. "Without major financial resources to buy arms from global vendors, India is left with little choice but to make its own weaponry," defense analyst Ajai Shukla, a retired Indian Army colonel, told DW. In order to do this though, Shukla said, India needs to expand its own research and development as well as private manufacturing capacities. But New Delhi's current push for self-reliance may prove to be several decades too late, with some experts saying that this should have happened when the country first began opening up its economy. "There are technologies which are the preserve of very few countries. For 35 years, we have been trying to make an aircraft engine in India but we have not been able to and nobody is willing to help," Anil Chopra, a retired Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force and director-general at the New Delhi-based Centre for Air Power Studies, said. "Those countries which have offered us engine technology, the amounts they are charging are so phenomenal and in the end, they would still perhaps not give us 100% of their technology. They may give us parts of their technology," Chopra said. "India has been able to manage in automobile, pharmaceutical, software and so many other areas to become a leader in the world. It was important that this push should have come 20 or 25 years back," he added. Maintaining India's large armed forces India faces particular threats from China and Pakistan, which both have nuclear weapons as well as "very strong armed forces," Chopra said. "We have to compete with two very powerful neighbors with whom we have differences of opinion and therefore India has to be militarily strong. We have the second-largest standing army in the world, the fourth-largest air force and the fifth-largest navy. So, to sustain these armed forces, self-reliance is crucial," he said. He also pointed out how the Russian war in Ukraine — both countries being weapons suppliers to India — has disrupted logistics chains, highlighting the need for domestic procurement. "We are buying a lot of marine engines from Ukraine. Our Antonov An-32s [military transport aircraft] have come from there. If they are at war and their factories have been bombed, our logistic chains are gone," Chopra said. What changes are being called for? Defense analyst Shukla says that one of the challenges India faces when it comes to defense-sector self-reliance is that scientific and technological development in the country is still low. "Until India begins making weaponry and achieving a high degree of scientific accomplishment, its scientists and engineers cannot move on to the next step which is building more capable weaponry that can deliver victory on the modern battlefield," Shukla said. "We cannot just work with outdated, low-tech weaponry and equipment. It takes time and investment to climb the technology ladder and develop the quality weaponry that is required to survive in the modern battlefield," he added. But Chopra traces the problem to the top of the decision-making ladder, claiming that bureaucratic delays are obstructing the move towards self-reliance. "Saying all this in the public domain and newspapers is one thing but the proof of the pudding is what is on the table. Is the money being given? Are the decisions happening quickly? Those manufacturing these defense items, like the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and DRDO, are they promising too much and not capable of delivering? These are the questions that need to be asked," he told DW. Is there a looming weapons shortfall? Reports in September suggested that India could be at risk of being critically short of helicopters by 2026 and fighter jets by 2030, although Chopra believes India could be facing a "crisis situation" regarding the shortage of jets as early as 2025. "We are badly off in fighter jets in terms of numbers because the MIG-21 Bison will retire by 2025. But we don't have any means to fill up those four squadrons as of today. The new 114 jets which are supposed to come from abroad will take six to seven years, if they come at all," he said. "Two other areas where there's a crisis are airborne warning and control systems (AWACS) and flight refueling aircraft. We have too few for the two types of threats we have got on our borders. Pakistan has more AWACS compared to us." For Shukla, the key issue is the technology gap, pointing to India's inability to produce key parts for aircraft engines. "When it comes to aero engines, which make up as much as one-third the cost of modern combat aircraft, we don't have the technologies for making them, so we end up importing them," he said. "The weapons that we have are not world-class and are not of a level where they provide instant superiority on the battlefield. So, the military ends up fighting with lower quality aircraft and vehicles." In the end, Shukla is in agreement with Chopra that it is the government that will need to free up funds for investment in order to achieve its goal of military self-reliance.

In continuation of constant emphasis on boosting self-reliance, the Indian government has thrust renewed vigor into various sectors, predominantly, in the manufacturing arena. Within this segment, the toy sector has formed a significant chunk of a developing economy that is slowly coming of age. Toys or gaming have served as primary contact points for most children in school as well as within the confines of their homes for quite some time now. As instruments of engagement, these have the potential to significantly impact the mental health of an individual, clearly influencing one's ability to be creative. Though, it is also a genuine concern that increasingly violent gaming has become a popular medium of “entertainment” amongst children and young teens resulting in numerous cases of self-harm that could have otherwise been avoided. When it comes to the toy sector as an industry, from the late 1990s itself, China is known to have shifted its focus to manufacturing toys on a massive scale and now holds a virtual monopoly over this segment as far as Asia is concerned. In different circumstances, currently, India had very little to show in terms of global market share or production line supply in this sector. Having only 1.5 percent share of this otherwise $100 billion world market, India has remained heavily dependent on other countries for the humongous demand it generates considering it is the second most populous nation in the world with a significant component being the youth, particularly children. One can only imagine the huge amount of monetary losses India is making at this point, with such heavy domestic demand being met solely by external suppliers. However, over the last couple of years, India has woken up to this reality and has begun to understand the wide potential of the toy market. Like other low-income countries, though India continues to import an overwhelming majority i.e., about 80 percent of the toys for its domestic use, the country has begun taking measures that would ensure that its presence in the global toy manufacturing market could be secured and shares increased substantially. During coronavirus-induced lockdowns, a massive fillip was given to virtual platforms and consequently online opportunities rose manifold. The lockdowns and the resulting compulsion of individuals to resort to online interactions have come as a blessing in disguise for many people working in the toy sector. New virtual gaming devices and initiatives that would synergize toys/gaming with real-time fitness/health saw increased demand and benefitted in terms of profits. Interestingly, a noted example is the app developed by the KCG College of Technology in Chennai wherein the idea is to help correct the body posture by promoting yoga through gaming. Combining technology with tradition, the app has figured out a unique way of ensuring sustained business interest as well as spreading yoga throughout the globe. Another fascinating app developed by Arogya in Dehradun ensures that one can improve one’s dietary preferences and eating habits by getting real time updates on the nutritional quality of the food via the gaming route. Though the sector did not find much mention in the schemes of the erstwhile governments, in recent times, particularly, during the lockdown period, numerous initiatives have been undertaken and the results are slowly unraveling. Following a clear call to “become vocal for local” in the toy industry, the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce undertook a detailed study in this sector. After its submission and detailed deliberations, multiple ministries were taken on board for a cohesive framework that would enable policies to be made to increase India's share in the global market. Linking the same to India's glorious culture and civilization, a Toycathon was organized for the first time in India providing youngsters and industry leaders a platform to engage and share new ideas. New innovations came to light with the event wherein more than 13,000 exhibitors participated, with widespread consultations between players and officials about the possible road map that the Indian government ought to take toward ensuring self-reliance. These innovations can subsequently ensure manufacturing takes place on a larger scale, with the potential to deliver development to remote areas of the country where it is most needed. Rarely does a capitalist venture find itself taking roots in areas that are far-flung or amidst mountainous terrains and excludes a huge population of the society i.e., mostly Dalits, tribals, women and other individuals/groups who live on the fringes. In fact, in its effort to give impetus to this sector, the government recently announced plans for setting up a more than 400 crore Toy Park in the Jewar region of Uttar Pradesh in which 134 companies have already agreed to establish their manufacturing units. An airport is also being reportedly planned in its vicinity. Expected to provide permanent jobs to more than 6,157 people, the Park spread over an area of 100 acres will be manufacturing electronic, plastic, stuffed, silicon toys along with wooden toys to incentivize regional artisans to hone their skills. Better late than never, this manufacturing industry, if developed properly with the necessary support from the government and the innovation needed from the corporate world, has a good shot at providing immense benefits to not just remote regions in the country but also the most vulnerable sections of society who with dignity and honor can participate in the country’s development paradigm. Source: ANI IH