Why the Govt should review and reform the Industrial policies

By Musaib Nisar

We are all not alien to the drastic effects and consequences Covid-19 has put us all in. Every single person in the world is suffering in one way or another due to this ongoing lockdown and every one of us is paying a price for the situation we still have no control over. With the announcement from WHO of the possibility of covid-19 becoming an pandemic and finding its way to stay as a part of our lives, the whole world has its eyes glued to the TV sets. The news channels and to the media about what is going to be the next step of the world towards an effective solution for this soon to become pandemic. While whole world is looking for a solution on the other hand it’s suffering simultaneously.

                So are the industries here in the valley of Kashmir and all around the nation. The world has now seen a 2- 3 month lockdown and they are writhing in pain of it, due to the losses and the threats Coronavirus has posed for their livelihood. Where as we have been suffering all these consequences for about 10 months now, as a result of which our industrial sector is heavily impacted with huge losses and no ways to come back to surface and gain our positions of glory back. As a unit holder in IGC Lassipora i am talking about my personal experience. As a young entrepreneur my words speak for all those entrepreneurs who were hopeful that their ideas of startup were going to change their lives for better, and for everyone who is in my shoes right now, going through the same losses and same frustration that i have been feeling all along this time. We need a vent, we need to speak up to at least try and make our voices reach the ears of the authorities so that they could reform their policies for us, so that in future given the circumstances here we would not have to be the victims of every disaster.

                As the big economist think tanks are predicting the world is going to lose all the profit it has earned approximately in last 3 or so years. Now coming to ground level of India and especially here in Kashmir, our industries have approximately suffered 80% losses and i am not counting the small industries and business startups who went bankrupt as soon as they started to flourish. This has not only affected our economy but our employment rates, our psychological and mental well being as well. Those young aspirant entrepreneurs who were finally seeing a ray of hope for themselves in this place have long lost their hope of doing anything better, on one hand our government was planning to develop industrial sector here to provide jobs and make the unemployment situation better here, but on the other hand we never actually got the opportunity to do so. Even our already set up units had to be closed, as a result of which our youth has totally given up the hopes of betterment, with addition to that not restoring the high speed data and even barring us from the 2G services and calling off services time and time again only adds salt to the wounds that covid-19 and the lockdown past that has given us.

                So i hope our government will hear the voices of such youth who are suffering the consequences with no fault of theirs, And take steps to review and reform the industrial policies so that we can hold onto better options if God forbid such situations prevail in the future.

Musaib Nisar is MD of Himaliyan Peaks Wood Industries/ Young Entrepreneur