Malik Sameed
Barring few organizations, activists the civil society in Kashmir looks to be a miserable failure which works more in cozy room rather than catering to downtrodden, pain hit masses on ground zero in our valley.
Taking to facebook, twitter while enjoying delicious meal has become their habit. As a matter of fact, the crucial role of civil society as the contributor of the cultural and ideological capital of any society can never be undermined. Our civil society members are only good at criticizing and minting money but doing nothing for people or betterment of the people at large.
Pertinently, We all are aware that a well-developed civil society, along with an independent media and judiciary, are equally essential for sustainable growth and stability. The importance of efforts to rebuild civil society by the constructive role of NGOS and establishment of the rule of law, stimulation of political dialogue and public participation, which is essentially made possible by a vibrant civil society must not be under-estimated, as they provide both formal and informal institutions for reconstruction in post-conflict situations.
Therefore, efforts to strengthen civil society is a necessity that can be facilitated by NGOs, both local and otherwise, in a number of ways – by assisting local communities and individuals in the design of programmes, providing capacity building services, access to financing, and establishment of legal entities like cooperatives. In Kashmir, we have thousands of NGO but only a small percentage of them renders meaningful service to the people and rest are just busy in drawing money. We also find here in Kashmir that there are a handful of youth groups, blood banks and orphanages that really do philanthropic work and others draw huge donations to fill their own pockets.
We need to pull up our socks and revamp our civil society so that Kashmir moves towards right direction