Category: Business

Saida Kadal- Nigeen stretch turns hub of vegetable vendors

Like many other city pavements, the Saida Kadal – Nigeen stretch has become a hub of local vegetable vendor’s selling farm fresh vegetables at prices much lower than that of market cost.
Drivers, shopkeepers and even daily wage workers have turned into vegetable vendors to sell produce from the nearby Dal lake.

Squatting at his stall at Rangar Stop Saida Kadal, Showkat Ahmad Dar’s life has witnessed a transition from being a bus driver to a vegetable vendor.
“For last two and half months, I have been selling vegetables produced from Dal but now the stocks available to us are vegetables from outside Kashmir. We sell vegetables during the hours of the deal in the strike,” Dar says.
Calling this year a bumper season of vegetable’s, Bashir Ahmad Sofi, a daily-wage worker-turned-vegetable vendor says the unrest has paved way for almost 20-30 vegetable vendors between the Saida Kadal- Ashai Bagh stretch.

“Kanda Mohalla in the Dal Lake is where a local mandi is located where trading happens in the morning. Every vendor takes his shikara and brings the vegetables to the roadside stalls for sale,” says Sofi. Right next to Sofi’s stall is the stall of Ghulam Nabi who has also been selling vegetables at Gagribal during the unrest. Others such as Muhammad Rafiq who owned a vegetable shop at Dargah Hazratbal has now also relocated to the roadside at Saida Kadal .
“My brother’s have shifted to Habbak where they run similar stalls. We buy wholesale stocks from Parimpora and Batamaloo mandis but don’t make much of profit,” says Rafiq.
Vendors such as Muhammad Shafi Beg who used to sell vegetables at the roadside every summer says due to the unrest profit margin has squeezed by almost 50 per cent. “ More than making a profit, customer is the first priority and we have to ensure that people don’t face shortage of vegetables,” says Beg who also sells local Pomegranates and even grass for livestock such as sheep.
As part of contributing to the social cause amid the unrest, these roadside vegetable vendors in the recent past have donated vegetables to hospitals and orphanages, says Ali Muhammad , a Dal inhabitant. He is part of ten vegetable vendors who do business from a pavement near Nigeen lake.
According to Ali Muhammad there has been a massive drop in vegetable prices due to the bumper season this year.
“Beans, Brinjals, Spinach, Turnip and Cucumber have been most popular selling local vegetables. We go to the mandi at 2 AM everyday and set-up our stalls by 5:30 AM. Our movement is often restricted by security forces and there have been times when our vegetables have turned stale because we were not allowed to set up stalls,” says Ali Muhammad.
Such has been the produce this year that vegetables in large quantity has been supplied to Jammu, says Bashir Ahmad, a wholesale vegetable dealer. ” We have had a surplus vegetable production which gave us the option of supplying vegetables to outside Kashmir,” says Bashir.

The prolonged protests, tensions with Pakistan, and evacuations will add to the economic distress the state was facing, Drabu said.

The current unrest in the Valley should no longer be seen as a “one-off” occurrence, and extended periods of protests and tension should now be “factored into” the governance of Jammu and Kashmir, state finance minister Haseeb Drabu has said.

Drabu told The Sunday Express that strikes by the Indian military along the Line of Control (LoC) have been carried out in the past as well, but this is the first time that India has “owned up” to such action.

“This (LoC strikes) has been done, for instance, when Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani followed the hot pursuit policy. The only difference is that the present government has shown political will and owned up to it,” he said.

The prolonged protests, tensions with Pakistan, and evacuations will add to the economic distress the state was
facing, Drabu said.

“We have to recognise that what we are witnessing is not going to be a one-off situation,” he said. “We have to factor strikes and disruptions into our administrative and governance systems and evolve a protocol for it. In future, we must try to pre-empt it rather than do a post facto situation analysis. We tend to see these disruptions as an aberration, which they are not. We have to see them as part of the process of governance in J&K.”

Drabu, who was in the capital to attend the GST Council meeting, said that once the framework for the new legislation became clear, they would have to work on reconciling it with the special status enjoyed by the state.

The J&K finance minister said the extended protests and lockdown had ensured virtually no transactions for almost three months and therefore, very little sales tax generation. In six months, the exchequer had earned only Rs 4,000 crore, which represented a huge shortfall.

“The pace of economic activity has surely shrunk. The state’s economy has shrunk,” he said. “Investment has been impaired especially in bank-funded projects, and I am aware of the fact that established business houses have decided to move out of the state,” he said, but declined to name the industries or business establishments that had taken this decision.

Written by Ritu Sarin (Indian Express)

BSNL customers from dozens of villages of this central Kashmir district have complained of poor or no service due to malfunctioning of the cellular network’s mobile towers.
Around a dozen towers in various areas of the district Budgam are out of service, a delegation of customers told.

The towers that remain mostly out of services are at Khag, Aripanthan, Hanjura, Gojethaji, Dodekhatoo, Nasurallahpora, Gondipora, Chill Arizal, Nagam villages of the district. “These towers are of no use as most of the time they are out of order and we are not able to get any network,” said a member of the delegation. “These towers have become the money minting machines for their operators as the diesel meant for the gen sets to run the towers is being misappropriated, and it seems there is no accountability of these tower operators from BSNL higher ups.”
“Whenever the electricity in the area goes off, the mobile network automatically shuts down, makes us to wait for hours during load shedding period to make a call,” said a BSNL subscriber from Gondipora area.
When contacted, General Manager BSNL Muhammad Salim Beigh, while accepting malfunctioning of BSNL towers said, “ We trying our best to get these towers back into service. There is shortage of fuel as we are not able to supply the diesel to all the sites due to ongoing circumstances.”

Chairman, KEF, Showkat Chowdhary, urged the government to keep the tunnel open round the clock so that “no fruit laden truck remains stranded.”

Kashmir Economic Forum (KEF) has expressed serious concern over the losses being suffered by the horticulture sector in the Valley “due mainly to the government restrictions on the movement of fruit laden trucks at Jawahar tunnel.”
Chairman, KEF, Showkat Chowdhary, urged the government to keep the tunnel open round the clock so that “no fruit laden truck remains stranded.”

“The stranding of the trucks damages the fruit which causes losses to the growers and dealers,” he said.
KEF said the horticulture forms the mainstay of the state economy and the government should provide every kind of support to the growers at this point in time when fresh fruits are being exported to outside mandis.
“The fruit has low shelf life and if the trucks are stranded unnecessarily at tunnel, the consignment would not reach to the dealers outside the state on time. The fruit would get damaged. By restricting the movement of the fruit laden trucks at Jawahar tunnel, government is spoiling the fresh fruits and the horticulture industry,” he said.

Chowdhary said the transporters are also charging higher rates to the growers because of the loss of time at the tunnel.
The KEF Chairman said: “The valley growers toil hard during the year to ensure better crop. Now if this crop gets spoiled because of the restrictions at the tunnel, it would render this hard work waste.”
KEF also expressed concern over the increased freight. “Government should regulate the freight or else the horticulture sector will be badly affected,” he said while demanding 25 percent subsidy on the freight by the government.

While asking the banks not to indiscriminately publish photographs of defaulters and guarantors in newspapers, it directed the lending institutions to formulate a policy in this regard.

RBI today said lenders can publish photographs of only those borrowers in newspapers who have been declared wilful defaulters as per the central bank’s guidelines.
While asking the banks not to indiscriminately publish photographs of defaulters and guarantors in newspapers, it directed the lending institutions to formulate a policy in this regard.

The policy should clearly sets out the criteria based on which the decision to publish the photographs of a person will be taken by them so that the approach is neither discriminatory nor inconsistent.
The Reserve Bank said that it has been observed that some lending institutions have been publishing the photographs of defaulters and guarantors in newspapers.
In view of the “sensitivity involved and need to prevent” the publishing of photographs of defaulting borrower/ guarantor in an indiscriminate manner, the RBI said photographs of only those borrower who have been declared as wilful defaulters could be published.

“A lending institution can consider publication of the photographs of only those borrowers, including proprietors/ partners /directors / guarantors of borrower firms/ companies, who have been declared as wilful defaulters following the mechanism set out in the RBI instructions…,” it said.
This will not apply to the non-whole time directors who are exempted from being considered as wilful defaulters unless the special conditions are satisfied.
Further, the lending institutions should formulate a policy with the approval of their Board of Directors which clearly sets out the criteria based on which the decision to publish the photographs of a person will be taken by them so that the approach is neither discriminatory nor inconsistent.
“The lending institutions shall not publish photographs of any other defaulting borrowers,” the RBI added.

A roller-coaster ride thereafter also saw some indices recovering, albeit marginally, but only to fall again and close significantly lower. The market movement was similar in Pakistan.

After a positive opening on the back of a rise in global crude oil prices, key Indian equity indices took a sharp fall around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, after the army said it had conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
A roller-coaster ride thereafter also saw some indices recovering, albeit marginally, but only to fall again and close significantly lower. The market movement was similar in Pakistan.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE opened strong at 28,423.14 points on Thursday, against the
previous close at 28,292.81 points. By the time the news briefing by the Indian Army had ended, the intra-day fall was as much as 750 points.
After a subsequent volatile session, where some investors were also resorting to value buying amid overall concern over escalation in tension between India and Pakistan, the key index ended with a loss of 465.28 points, or a 1.64 per cent drop, at 27,827.53 points.

But for Tata Consultancy Services, all the 30 Sensex shares ended in the red.
“As markets got first whiff of developments across the border, panic liquidation gripped the stocks enmasse resulting in a sell off across board. However F&O expiry dynamics ensured that liquidation spree did not evolve into a free fall,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
At the Karachi Stock Exchange, the movement for KSE-30 was similar. The index, at one point of time, was down over 415 points. But half hour before the closing bell, it was ruling with a loss of 20.31 points, or 0.09 per cent.
India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed lower by 153.90 points, or 1.76 per cent, to 8,591.25 points.
The market mood took a beating as soon as the briefing by the Indian Army started.
Markets will bounce back: Finance Ministry
Indian financial markets will bounce back, and surgical strikes by the army may even have a positive impact on the economy, India’s Finance Ministry said on Thursday.
“Terrorism is the biggest threat to our financial and economic stability, and growth. So, decisive action against terrorism will spur growth,” said Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das soon after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India can repel any force that subverts peace.
Lauding the strikes by the army, Jaitley tweeted, “We are proud of Indian Army for taking pre-emptive action and repelling terrorists’ attempt to destabilise peace and tranquillity in the region.”

City residents throng Rajbagh to get free SIM cards

With hundreds of bikes and dozens of cars parked outside its office, it seems all roads in the city are leading to Reliance Jio’s Kashmir headquarters in Rajbagh here.
As the newly launched mobile company is offering free SIM cards with without charge local, STD and roaming, despite shutdown and curfews hundreds of people throng Jio’s local office for purchasing its postpaid connections.

In Kashmir prepaid outgoing calls and mobile internet is barred for more than last 80 days now with intermittent ban on both postpaid and prepaid mobile services except for the state owned BSNL after the killing of Hizbul Mujahedeen Commander Burhan Wani on July 8.
The rush of people for purchasing the Jio postpaid connections here which is visible from both outside office building as well inside office’s main waiting hall. At Rajbagh crossing, where the Jio office is located, three Traffic Police officials are managing the heavy rush of vehicles and customer say that despite coming early morning they have to wait for hours or even may have to come next day to get a mobile connection.
Though across India the attraction towards Jio is its cheap internet packages but in Kashmir when the mobile internet is presently banned it is the free SIM card and voice calling through its ‘Jio Welcome Offer’ that has become the main reason for customers to go for its services.

Customers say that above all the barring of prepaid outgoing calling in Kashmir has become the main reason for them to opt for the Jio postpaid.
Jammu and Kashmir has about 98 lakh mobile subscribers with more than 90 percent of them with prepaid connection, according to TRAI records. The barring of outgoing on prepaid phones rendered majority of mobile users devoid of calling facilities forcing them to either apply for new postpaid connection or convert their prepaid SIMs into postpaid.
“I was a prepaid user but I cannot call anybody from it, therefore, needed a postpaid SIM and would have gone for any postpaid which would be affordable with good connectivity. But when I saw Jio offer, I found it amazing. The company will not charge me for voice calls months and there is no monthly rent to be paid until December. So why should I bother about standing in a queue for few hours, when I am going to save lot of money,” says Waseem Wani of Habak. Wani had reached Jio office from the city outskirts at 8 0Clock in the morning and was able to get the SIM card at 3PM.
Like Waseem, same tale is repeated by a number of customers, who are queued up for their turn to get the Jio connection.
The rush of new customers was earlier witnessed by BSNL, as its postpaid services were not barred by government and Airtel for its reliable service quality. However, as soon as the Jio announced its offers on September 1 and started issuing SIM cards here, new customers turned en masse towards it.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries of which Reliance Jio Infocomm is a subsidiary on its Annual General Meeting on September 1 announced that domestic voice calls to any network across India would be free for Jio subscribers even beyond the Jio Welcome Offer and domestic roaming services would also not be charged separately,. Besides, average data prices would be around Rs 50 per GB, which would be amongst the lowest in the world, he has claimed.
Company officials based in Srinagar, who does not want to be named as they are not authorized to speak to media, though reluctant to share exact figures, say that they are witnessing unexpected response and are much ahead of their target with thousands of SIMs already provided to customers.
“When we started, the present phase of unrest had already begun and internet and prepaid was banned, so we were very skeptical that there will be hardly any people buying our services but as the announcement was made about the free offers, people despite shutdown and curfews started to throng in, these are the best offers available presently in whole telecom sector here,” said the official.
They also said that there is minimum documentation required for obtaining a Jio SIM. One needs to provide their Adhar No and thumb impression to verify the Adhar No and receives a SIM card within no time, which is activated then and there only.