Jammu & Kashmir Bank is the economic lifeline of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The bank not only is a boon for businesses but also plays a significant role for employment generation in the trouble-torn State. However, the bank has lately been grabbing eyeballs through news headlines for utterly wrong reasons.

THE CASE

In June this year, the bank Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Parvez Ahmad was removed from his post after being charged with ‘corruption’.

The action was triggered by a series of protests in Jammu by job aspirants who alleged that the recruitment for Probationary Officer positions was Kashmir-centric after district-wise merit lists were issued by the bank.

A day after he was removed, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) started a probe about Parvez’s “meteoric rise from a chartered accountant” to the bank’s top position in just 15 years.

Pertinently, Parvez (whose three-year tenure was to end in October 2019) was appointed chairman in October 2016, when Mehbooba Mufti was the Chief Minister, with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in an alliance with the BJP.

CHARGES & ALLEGATIONS

Sources privy to the developments in the bank said that Parvez Ahmed’s removal and subsequent searches in his office were part of an effort by Union Home Ministry to “crackdown on corruption, nepotism, favouritism, and a strike against the back-door non-transparent employment encouraged by him”.

“He had his nephew, Muzaffar, posted to his office immediately after taking over as Chairman. His daughter-in-law, Shazia Ambreen, was appointed a Probationary Officer and is currently heading the Hazratbal branch,” an unnamed official was quoted by The Hindu.

The report also said that the Anti-Corruption Bureau was probing the alleged role of Parvez Ahmad in spending ₹8 crore from corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds on the beautification of the Royal Spring Golf Course in Srinagar, “which is a place of rendezvous for the elite and has no utility for common people”.

He was also accused of facilitating back-door appointments. It has been alleged that workers of political parties were employed in the bank without any job advertisement, written exam or even interview.

Even the State governor Satya Pal Malik in an interview to Times Now in October last year claimed that as many as 582 candidates recruited by the bank, which had kept itself out of the ambit of RTI, were replaced with political appointees. However, the statement was later retracted.

Moreover, he has been targeted for other shortcomings of the bank especially in case of loan processing. Media reports say that loans have been given without due diligence to businesses and politicians, most of which have turned into NPAs. Also, non-performing accounts were given over-draft facilities, reports say.

A statement issued by the State’s Anti-Corruption Bureau claimed that a source report received by the Agency revealed that an insurance deal in violation of norms has been made by J&K Bank with IFFCO TOKIO “in which close relative of former chairman Parvez Ahmad is employed, resulting into undue benefits to the said company.”

However, the sacked Chairman in response said on Twitter that he was “open to scrutiny” on each and every transaction he had done. He said that he had done his job “most diligently, honestly and in the best interest of the institution.”

FOLLOW-UP ACTION

An FIR No 14/2019 was registered in PS ACB Srinagar by Anti-Corruption Bureau for the insurance deal with IFFCO TOKIO “in violation of the norms.”

The Governor-led State government also announced a host of measures, including splitting the post of Chairman and Managing Director, and bringing the bank under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

The bank’s board of directors recommended splitting the position of Chairman and Managing Director, thereby enabling it to comply with RBI and SEBI guidelines. The board decided that it will implement RTI provisions and the CVC guidelines for the banking sector to bring in accountability and to improve the overall functioning of the bank.

AMBIVALENCES AND FACTS

This is not the first time that the J&K Bank’s Chairman has been sacked in the most unexpected manner. Previously, Dr Haseeb Drabu was also removed as Chairman of the Bank in September 2010 by National Conference-Congress coalition government headed by Omar Abdullah as he had been appointed by the previous regime of PDP-Congress Government.

As far as the allegation of District-wise preparation of merit lists for selection of candidates in the Preliminary Exams for the posts of Probationary Officers in the bank is concerned, the official Advertisement Notice (Advertisement No: JKB/Rectt/2018-1579; Dated: 09.10.2018) clearly mentioned the 250 vacancies “as per District-wise requirement”.

Also, the ousted Chairman’s strange decision of uniform cut-off of 40 for PO Prelims across the State was seen as a violation of its already announced selection criteria. Valley based aspirants mocked at JK Bank for conducting preliminary examination which according to them turned out to be useless process after Bank’s decision to announce a uniform cut-off of 40 marks across the State.

Even if all bank examinations are conducted by the national-level recruiting agency Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) which takes care of preparing question papers, evaluation and finalizing the merit list, the final selection list is, however, issued by the bank itself.

Last time when it came up with the selection list of REs, only the roll numbers of the selected candidates were made public instead of the entire merit list. Likewise, in the case of BAs, the candidates who were offered jobs got individual appointment letters via mail or post. The list wasn’t made public. The bank has repeatedly, over the years, come under sharp criticism on account of this secrecy.

Unconfirmed reports about the merger of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited with some nationalized or private bank have been brushed aside by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The RBI clarified that there was no such proposal before it and termed the reports about merger “absolutely baseless”.

In fact, Reserve Bank of India’s Prompt Corrective Action, which is a mechanism to maintain sound financial health of the banks, comes into play only when a bank is making losses and recovery seems impossible. J&K Bank is neither a loss-making entity nor hit by structural deficiencies as the bank is being properly regulated. So, there are no strong grounds for any merger of the bank to take place.

The State is under President’s Rule and the ACB was constituted in J&K a few months ago. Sources say that Central government is using the ACB for it wants control of the premier financial institution. This is in the context of NIA’s investigation into the bank’s suspected “dubious activities that may be linked to terror financing.”

Esteemed guests and participants. Assalamu Alaikum!

As you have been given a sneak peak by Dr. Ruheela Hassan into how important a role news media plays in shaping public opinion and strengthening our society, it is an opportune time to introduce our news portal.

Although there are a lot of media organisations be it electronic, print or online, the idea of starting a news portal came to us only because of three important things:

First of all. The present trend in local news media is to wait for events to turn into news so as to sell that to the public. Yes, I said "sell". That's because crime and violence are mostly read about as far as the consumption of news content is concerned.

So we will be going against the tide by focusing on things like investigative journalism, ambush journalism, data journalism et cetera. There is a dearth of these genres of journalism as far as local media organisations are concerned.

The second important issue that triggered our decision to launch a news portal of this sort is the growing menace of fake news. Whenever we scroll through our Facebook timeline, we see such posts which look like news but are as distant from reality as the earth is from the sky. WhatsApp is also a favourite network of fake news wallas to vent their frustration. And most people turn out to be their accomplices by forwarding their posts without verifying the sources. They don't have the knowledge either to recognize fake news.

We will be ready to counter any such fake news with well researched articles and videos. We have two people in our team who will specifically deal with this menace in a professional way.

And thirdly. Our district lacks a proper media representation. Should our be district be known only because of the turmoil here? We have some young and talented entrepreneurs here. People should know them and get inspired. We have some really beautiful places here. People should know and throng them. And at the same time, we also have some developmental issues that need to be addressed. All these things will be on our radar as well.

On the occassion, I also want to make public the revenue model of our news portal.

The income generating components of our portal include:

Cartoon by Mir Suhail Qadri depicts internet bans in Kashmir

The valley of Kashmir is once again making it to news headlines in international media due to mass protests. Although this time the reason for such protests may be the incidents of braid chopping but then, anything that people here feel is a 'conspiracy' of the state or its agencies has the potential to trigger an uprising.

The various voices from the government which supported the 'mass hysteria' theory have only worsened the situation. Few other voices which claimed "no one was behind braid chopping", suggesting the phenomenon as a by-product of black magic have only prompted people calling the government as 'superstitious'.

In a highly militarised conflict zone like Kashmir where the security agencies including state police are in close proximity and jointly take part in anti-militancy operations, the inability shown and the desire "of a magic wand" expressed by Director General of Police, S. P. Vaid in order to nab the culprits has surprised one and all. This, I am sorry to say, is nothing less than a cruel joke!

What the government has done instead is that it has also started 'chopping'. So, braid choppers have made the state government into an "internet chopper". In fact, PDP-BJP coalition government's rule in Jammu & Kashmir has the honour of enforcing most number of internet shutdowns in the state that also in times of much boasted transition towards a cashless economy!

The suspension of high speed mobile data services by the government has drawn criticism from all sections of society with people calling it an attempt to push the people back to stone age.

Officials from the state police say that the suspension of 3G/4G internet is ordered due to fear of “law and order problem” in view of incidents of braid cutting. One of the officials from a telecom company called it a "new strategy" of the police to prevent people from uploading or sharing videos. However, this "new strategy" only serves the purpose of hiding their failure and inability in nabbing the braid cutters.

These days, businesses are totally dependent on internet but the biggest hurdle that prevents them from flourishing in the state is these frequent restrictions. Many emerging entrepreneurs have already shifted outside, thus the state keeps losing economically also.

While the promotion of Kashmir's tourism is being done at huge costs to the state exchequer, the tourists are often left disappointed when they experience the erratic mobile services. Again, ministers from the coalition government accuse Indian national media of running a negative campaign about Kashmir but then fail to ensure uninterrupted mobile services!

The telecommunication companies operating in the state say that they have signed an agreement with the state government which gives the power to the authorities to regulate mobile calling and internet services. But the thing is that they are also obliged to provide the very services to their subscribers for which they charge them.

Despite internet suspension, subscribers have to pay bills as per their monthly selected plans which is oppressive. Firstly, they face inconvenience of not being able to use the services and secondly, they are also charged!

It is an irony that these service providers charge for high speed internet plans but provide data services that can't even be categorised as 2G. They even snap the services altogether whenever the authorities feel that bans can come to their rescue in so called 'law and order situations'.

Internet is a tool of masses to appreciate and criticise governments and their policies. But in Jammu and Kashmir, the government keeps looking at internet through the prism of "security" & "law and order".

There are certain chances that the internet may be used by anti-social elements in order to vitiate the already volatile atmosphere but there is law to tackle those elements. The frequent bans or slowing down internet speed is no answer as it means the fringe elements hold majority of people hostage.

The state government needs to realise the seriousness of braid chopping incidents as soon as possible. The state police also needs to stop being apologetic for want of evidence and should make serious efforts to nab the culprits. Doing that requires moving beyond announcing hefty amounts as reward for information regarding braid choppers!

We have a right to criticise the government for its insane policies through the medium of internet. But, only anger brews up when the very government bars internet on the one hand and flaunts "Digital India" on the other! Internet is undoubtedly the biggest fear that the coalition government needs to tackle!