SOCIOSOCIO----ECONOMICECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR A CASE STUDY OF CHARARI-SHARIEF TEHSIL IN J&K DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY (M.Phil) in SOCIOLOGY By Nargis Khazir Under the Supervision of DrDrDr Pirzada MMMohammadMohammad Amin (Associate Professor in Sociology and Programme Coordinator MSW) Department of Sociology and Social Work University of Kashmir, Srinagar- 190006 NAAC Accredited Grade ‘A’ 2011 1 Post Graduate Department of Sociology and Social Work University of Kashmir (NAAC Accredited Grade ‘A’) CERTIFICATE Certified that Nargis Khazir has carried out this research work entitled “ Socio-Economic Development of Jammu & Kashmir, A Case Study of Charari-Sharief Tehsil in J & K " under my guidance and supervision for the partial fulfilment for the award of degree of Masters of Philosophy in Sociology in this University. The dissertation submitted by her, to the best of my knowledge, did not form the basis of the award of any degree earlier and the contents of this dissertation are original. I, therefore recommend that the dissertation may be placed for the award of the Degree of M. Phil in Sociology. Supervisor Dr PirzadaPirzada Mohammad Amin ii (Associate Professor Sociology & Programme Coordinator MSW) DEDICATED TO Alamdari Kashmir g{x YÄtz UxtÜxÜ Éy ^tá{Å|Ü SheikhSheikh----ulululul----AlamAlam Sheikh NooruNooru----DeenDeenDeen----NooraniNoorani RARARA Who Choosed Name of the Place as “ Tsrar” in the Search of God iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At the onset, all praises to Almighty Allah for his Mercy and Magnanimity. It gives me pleasure and I consider it a privilege to have worked under the supervision of worthy supervisor Dr Peerzada Mohammad Amin for his meticulous, analytical and sincere approach which inspired, guided and helped me to pursue and accomplish this work, entitled “Socio-economic Development of Jammu & Kashmir, A Case Study of Charari-Sharief Tehsil in J&K”. I thank him for his encouragement, guidance and support right from the initial to the final level, which enabled me to develop a basic understanding of the subject and research knowhow. I also gratefully acknowledge the support and guidance extended by the other dignified faculty members of the various departments of University of Kashmir, Professor B.A Dabla (HOD Sociology & Social Work), Dr Aneesa Shafi ( Associate Professor Department of Sociology & Social work), Dr Mushtaq Ahmad Lone (Associate Professor in sociology Department of College Education), Dr Syed Khursheed Ahmad (Research Officer Population Research Centre university of Kashmir), Dr Tareak Ahmad Rather ( Associate Professor Centre of Central South Asian Studies), Dr Mohammad Afzal Mir (Associate professor Centre of Central South Asian Studies), Dr G. M Bhat (Associate Professor Department of Economics). Mr. G. N. Gauhar (Former District and Session Judge & presently faculty member of Sheikh- ul -Alam Chair Markaz-i-Noor University of Kashmir). Besides this I extend my regards to Mr.Syed Adfar Rashid Shah ( PhD candidate - sociology, Jamia Millia Islamic University, New Delhi) and Dr. Sofia Hassan (Cont. Asst. Professor Department of sociology and social work), and other friends and colleagues who helped me to complete this work in the best of their capability. During the course of study, as I gathered relevant data/information as secondary source from various departments and institutions, so I would like to express my sincere thanks to the staff of the representative office of, Agriculture & Horticulture Evaluation officer (Charari-Sharief & Chadoora Tehsils), Assistant iv Director Handicrafts (Budgam), Assistant Director Evaluation and Statistics (Budgam), Zonal Education officer (Charari-Sharief), Tehsil Revenue officer (Charari-Sharief). I would also like to thank and express my indebtedness to the staff members of various libraries especially Rifat Ji & Gh Rasool from library of sociology & social work, Library of Economics, Library of History, Library of Markaz-i-Noor,Shaikh-ul-Allum Chair and Allama Iqbal Central Library University of Kashmir . I would like to express my gratitude to all other well wishers, especially my Grandfather and Parents, for their unfailing love, affection and support. I would fail in my duties if I would not express my special thanks to my sisters Shabnam and Shaista and my brother Moomin and my maternal cousin Enayat, who took a lot of time for sharp documentation of this work. Last but not least, I would like to thank all the respondents who imparted all the information regarding the study and without their contribution this study was not possible. I express my gratitude to all of them. Nargis Khazir (Research Scholar) v cÜxytvx Jammu and Kashmir the northern state of India has its own distinct cultural ethos. The state is enriched with the boundless beauty of snow-clad mountains, large natural lakes, forests, rivers and springs and has a vast potential for socio-economic development. But till the recent past, despite having fertile soil, abundant mineral resources, the unlimited water supply in its snow-fed rivers, the immense green wealth of its vast forests, the matchless skill of its world famous crafts men and the salubrious climate, as some eminent writers have compared this Himalayan range with that of Switzerland, Its inhabitants plunged into hunger, privation, epidemics and ignorance and have had to track down to the towns of Punjab to work as coolies and other menial job workers in order to earn money to pay land revenue to the feudal administration and interest to the money lenders. The feudalism and its related institutions, therefore, made the people of Kashmir to launch a freedom struggle against the Dogra Autocracy. The freedom struggle was launched in 1931 and was organized, guided and conducted by Muslim Conference headed by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. The main object and ideal of the freedom struggle was to seek a re-organised socio-economic and political system as fostered by the Dogras. So the freedom struggle organized under National Conference gave itself a responsible Government and in order to liberate the people of the state from exploitation, oppression, backwardness, poverty etc., the National Conference presented to the people a programme in the form of a manifesto called ” Naya Kashmir” or “New Kashmir” and meanwhile Kashmir took strides in socio-economic development. So based on this back ground the present study “Socio-economic development of Jammu and Kashmir, A Case Study of Charari-Sharief Tehsil in J&K” is meant to analyse the process of socio-economic development in the political reconstruction after the decline of autocratic rule in 1947. In order to make an analysis of socio-economic development of a region it is imperative to understand firstly the conceptual meaning of the socio-economic development and secondly get familiar with the socio- historical background of the vi concerned region. So the present study is based on the same approach. The study instigates with a conceptual frame work of development in general and social and economic development in particular, factors responsible for both social and economic development and finally analysing the conceptual meaning of socio-economic development as undertaken by United Nations Development Programme by enlarging peoples choices, including living a long and healthy life, to be educated and to have an access to resources needed for a decent standard of living. Then consequently the study deals with an overview of socio-economic development of India, in the post independence period with respect to implementation of Five Year Plans followed by economic reforms etc., subsequently the study dealt with an over view of socio- economic development of Jammu and Kashmir in the political reconstruction after the end of autocratic rule in 1947. In the present study an attempt has been made to analyse the process of socio-economic development in Tehsil Charari-Sharief, the area of study, in association with the variables Agriculture & Horticulture, Art & Craft and Education. An attempt has also been made to find out the variation or disparities in the levels of achieved development and identify and delineate the areas or variables lagging behind the process of socio-economic development in the area. The entire work has been divided into four main chapters. In the first chapter the framework of the study has been presented. Moreover the conceptual meaning and measurement of socio-economic development have been elucidated and the available literature about the research problem has been surveyed including a discussion over the theoretical literature and a deep study of various case studies have been consulted in the same chapter. Chapter second depicts the main points regarding the methodology used in the empirical course of investigation. Chapter third examines the process of socio- economic development of the concerned region and the existing level of development both in sectors and overall which have been revealed as findings of the study in the same chapter. The fourth and last chapter imparts a concise survey of the main findings of the work. Moreover the findings suggest that the area of study vii witnessed a great developmental change but so far as the more rural and far-flung villages of the area are concerned, there exist inter-village disparities and a lot remains to be done in achieving the desired goals of policy of development and some suggestions for future strategy