WE THE PEOPLE
NGOs have failed to discourage Suicides and Consumption of Drugs by Youth in Kashmir Valley
Hence Social Scientists urge Govt., to Goad all NGOs to perform their Obligations and wage war against Social Evils
By: Mirror News Service
Srinagar: We have dwelt on the role of NGOs in our last four series at length and have stated there are a number of NGOs in the state and the mushroom growth of these remains unchecked. But, they have failed to come up to the expectation of people and are looked upon as mere money churning machines.
One of the main responsibilities of the Non Governmental Organizations was to provide an answer to the ever increasing and burning socio-psychological problems confronted by the people of the state, especially Kashmir Valley. These include ever increasing suicide rates, drug addiction amongst the Valleyites.
Unfortunately, despite being the greatest vice, the suicide rate has increased alarmingly over the past few years in the Kashmir Valley. Just a few decades back, Kashmir was among few places across the globe with very low suicide rates. Ironically, over the past two decades the graph of suicides has shot-up.
Recent statistics show that suicides have nearly doubled from 47 to 81 from 2006 to 2007.In 2008; the number of attempted suicides was over 250.But, hardly have we seen any constructive effort in this regard by any of the NGO to educate people about the evil of suicides.
Late marriages are also one of the major existing social evils; it has forced our youth to involve in immoral activities. People often give preference to a working girl for marriage. Similarly boys having government jobs or earning a lot are always the first choice. Even the parents at present times never consider about marriage of their children especially boys before getting a sound job.
Drug addiction is also increasing at an alarming pace in the Valley of Kashmir. According to credible findings which should be certainly an eye-opener to everyone that Kashmir division alone has 70,000 drug addicts, including 4000 women according to a United Nation International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) sponsored survey. It is a known and unfortunate veracity that the educational institutions have become the hub of such activities. Drug peddlers run their operations in educational institutions by poisoning the thoughts of student community. Hundreds of thousands of young people in Kashmir are suffering from drug addiction. But only a handful of NGOs are working to counter this societal cancer called drug addiction and even these NGOs have failed to yield any substantial result in countering this menace.
On the other side of the spectrum, we hardly find any attention from these NGOs to counter the diverse environmental problems confronted by world famous valley of Kashmir.
As it is known fact that on environmental front the Valley of Kashmir is facing deluge. Kashmir’s ecological balance has been severely disturbed as a result of unabated environmental destruction over a period of nearly three decades. Kashmir once known as "paradise on earth," home to vast wildlife reserves including some species so rare they existed only in Kashmir, are now quickly falling victim to the desolation which has encompassed much of this piece of land and world famous lakes of Kashmir Valley have been reduced to cesspools. But hardly any NGO out of thousands of NGOs working out here has worked to safeguard our environment, unlike outside states wherein the relentless efforts of NGOs have yielded substantial results in preventing further degradation of environment.
After analyzing the ground realities, the writing is clear on the wall-“NGOs in Kashmir have abandoned their basic responsibilities and failed to provide any answer to the growing social evils faced by masses, especially youth of Kashmir”.
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