Tourism continues to be one of the worst hit sectors in the Covid-19 pandemic. From Jammu and Kashmir to Goa, there are too many restrictions,  and not enough tourists willing to take the risk of contamination. Even as states have ‘officially’ reopened for the tourist season 2020, the citation remains precarious for the industry.

For example, according to a news report in the Tribune, the Jammu and Kashmir government has announced that hotels in the union territory will now be opened at full capacity. However, there are no takers, the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage major draw for domestic tourists around this time, has been suspended in the wake of Covid-19. Most other tourist places are also still shut. The Tribune reports that most hoteliers continue to keep their establishments closed due to “non-availability of customers” and “unfavourable circumstances”.

They say that this decision to reopen “holds no meaning” for them as there are no tourists coming in anyway. Rakesh Wazir, president of the Katra Hotel and Restaurants Association told the Tribune that their establishments can’t be opened as they wont be financially viable “till the government takes a decision on allied and related sectors, including opening of tourist destinations and resumption of pilgrimage. There are around 600-650 hotels and lodges in Katra town and, except five to six which are being used as quarantine facilities, all are closed.”

He told The Tribune that the hotel industry in Katra was facing losses of upto to Rs 4.5 crore per day and estimated a total loss of Rs 600 crore. Over 25,000 employees have also been jobless as the season is yet to open in the real sense. However, according to the administration’s guidelines for Unlock 2.0, hotels can function at full capacity in Jammu and Kashmir, and restaurants can have 50 per cent capacity for dine-in services.

Inderjeet Khajuria, chairman of the All Jammu Hotels and Lodges Association, told The Tribune that tourists cannot even reach the state because, there are no train or inter-state bus service to J&K, and “it will take at least two years” for hotels  to return to normal business. He estimated a daily loss of Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore. 

In Himachal Pradesh, the other hill tourist state popular with tourists the state government has also allowed reopening of hotels and restaurants however, according to news reports, the industry stakeholders in major tourist areas of Kangra district do not want to restart operations just yet. The Tribune reports that most of the hoteliers in Kangra will keep their businesses, including home stays, closed till September as they are scared that an influx of tourists from other states can bring the risk of Covid-19. Kangra has already seen a rise in Covid-19 cases in the past fortnight, said the report.

Anyone coming to the state is required to undergo a 14-day home quarantine. Those coming from abroad are required to be sent to seven-day institutional quarantine and seven-day home quarantine. There is strict monitoring by health officials and the police too.

Similar stringent restrictions for tourists  have been put in place in Goa, another tourist hotspot which sees a deluge of both domestic and international tourists as soon as the Monsoons retreat. 

Goa officially reopened for tourists on July 2. Chief Minister, Goa, Dr Pramod Sawant had made the announcement with caution, “Goa is reopening for tourists. Tourism is one of the biggest industries in the state and is the backbone of our economy. In this unlock phase, we are kick starting our economy again by keeping the highest health safety norms in place in view”

Goa is reopening for tourists. Tourism is one of the biggest industries in the state and is the backbone of our economy. In this unlock phase, we are kick starting our economy again by keeping the highest health safety norms in place in view of #COVID19. #GoaFightsCOVID19 pic.twitter.com/0vSuauGXLq

— Dr. Pramod Sawant (@DrPramodPSawant) July 2, 2020

The state government has made a comprehensive checklist tourists have to follow even before they travel. Tourists are required to pre-book the hotels approved by the government. They have to fill a self-declaration form and are encouraged to carry a Covid-19 negative certificate issued in the last 48 hours. Those without one will have to pay and get tested in Goa, as soon as they enter by road, train or air. After the swabs are collected the tourists will have to stay in isolation at their hotel till the results are declared. In case they test positive they will be sent to “institutional quarantine.”

According to the official update, till Friday, Goa had 2,251confirmed cases, out of which 895 were active, and nine people had succumbed to Covid-19.

Related: 

India has the lowest cases and deaths/million population: Dr. Harsh Vardhan
Covid-19 and a tale of two cities

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The last days of Mt Everest’s spring window for 2019 witnessed the deaths of 11 climbers. Images of hundreds of mountaineers queuing to reach the summit and reports of climbers stepping over dead bodies dismayed people around the world, many wondering how human beings had got it so wrong.

Shutterstock

After the conquest of Annapurna and Everest in the 1950s, mountaineering became popular among the more privileged. But in the past two decades, mountaineering has taken on a increasingly commercial angle with disastrous results.

Experts report that aside from a very short weather window to climb Everest this season, a new generation of guides offering cheap expedition rates attracted a rash of novice mountaineers, which contributed to the high number of deaths. Those inexperienced climbers, some of whom had only climbed Mont Blanc (4,810m) and Aconagua (6,962m), should not have been there.

Modern climbing

Until the beginning of the 21st century, mountaineering was an exclusive activity accessible only to a few. Twenty years later, despite being a high-risk activity that requires a high level of specialised skill, its popularity among recreational climbers has drastically increased.

Climbing legend Reinhold Messner once said that for a fee, “almost anyone could brave a top-class peak” – meaning regardless of skill, ability or experience.

Many modern mountaineers are attracted by the Seven Summits Challenge, introduced by Messner in the 1980s, with the aim of climbing the highest peak on every continent. Cashed-up adventure tourists lured by the challenge face expensive mountain expedition packages – from £3,000 for Aconcagua and £30,000 for Everest.

Aconcagua in the Argentinian Andes is the second highest of the Seven Summits after Everest, and one of the cheapest to climb. The number of climbers attempting Aconcagua has increased by 400% since 1990 – 4,000 people a year now push for the summit.

Mount Aconcagua in Argentina. Yana Wengel, Author provided

Our current research project focusing on mountaineering tourism shows that this recent trend can be explained by the transformation of mountaineering from personal exploring to a commercial guided-tour industry which is capitalising on better accessibility to big mountains, affordable transportation and more advanced equipment. This boom in commercial adventure sports means “real” mountaineers are often outnumbered by tourists whose ambitions exceed their climbing skills.

Although technically Aconcagua is not considered a difficult climb, it reaches a high altitude, where climbers struggle with low humidity, low oxygen and severe winds, so the summit success rate is 30-40%.

In February 2019, we spent three weeks at Aconagua’s base camp, where rangers told us that the popularity of the mountain has triggered an increase in accidents and fatalities. But reinforcement of safety measures implemented over the past five years have minimised casualties, averaging two to five deaths a season – with no deaths in 2019 so far.

Such measures include climber check-in and medical checks at ranger stations, and the availability of doctors and rescue teams up to 5,500m. Our interviews with rangers, guides and porters reveal that accidents are associated with an high number of inexperienced climbers who often carry insufficient equipment and underestimate the difficulty and risks of a high-altitude mountain environment. The question is, should everyone be allowed to climb any mountain they decide to?

A commercial expedition heads up to Nido de Condores at 5,550m on Aconagua. Yana Wengel, Author provided

Many recreational mountaineers opt for package expeditions, relying solely on the experience of service companies and the help of porters and guides. Without this professional support, they would fail. The paradox of modern mountaineering is that the provision of necessary expedition support and all-inclusive packages also encourages inexperienced climbers who wish to reach the desired summit at any cost, putting others at risk.

Of course even the most skilled mountaineers need logistics and local support on the world’s highest peaks. But experienced climbers possess the knowledge, skill and strength to reach the summit – and often rely on themselves as far as possible. But their achievements, together with the “all-inclusive” adventure tourism industry, lull inexperienced climbers into a false sense of security about what they are capable of.

Experience and permits

Each country manages climbing permits in different ways – and only a handful of authorities check mountaineering experience seriously. To climb Alaska’s Mt Denali (6,190m), the highest peak in North America, climbers are required to have advanced mountaineering skills along with backcountry winter camping experience.

Only seven mountain guide companies are authorised to lead expeditions on Denali and solo climbers need to prove their mountaineering experience to obtain a climbing permit. This strict control minimises the risks to climbers and the impact on the environment, allowing sustainable management of expeditions without casualities – which was achieved in 2018.

Other countries have much looser requirements. The New York Times reported that to get a climbing permit for Everest all a climber has to do is submit a copy of their passport, limited biographical data and a certificate of good health.

Mt Denali in Alaska has strict conditions regarding experience when it comes to issuing climbing permits. Denali National Park

Climbing a mountain is mentally and physically demanding. Climbers need to have good ethics – such as taking responsibility for their actions, respecting local climbing traditions, taking care with the environment and so on – proper equipment and real mountaineering experience. In our view high-altitude climbers should be required to demonstrate a standard of experience to obtain a permit. But mountaineering is a lucrative industry and brings huge amounts of money to often impoverished local economies. Over the years, overcrowding and safety issues have become a serious problem.

Mountain tourists lack the experience and the requisite attributes to summit difficult peaks. This foolhardy arrogance can lead to tragedy, as we saw on Everest this year. The global mountaineering community needs to call for specific conditions of ability and experience be met when issuing permits for high-altitude mountain expeditions. It has to be about more than simply being able to afford to take on the world’s most difficult peaks.

But how do we achieve that? Who is responsible for managing modern mountaineering in a safe, responsible and sustainable way? If we don’t address these issues, avoidable tragedies caused by commercialised mountaineering will continue to appal the world.

Courtesy: The Conversation

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The most disquieting conclusion of the interactions that the CCG had with Kashmiri students, civil society and political leaders this time around was that as compared to the previous visits, the sense of dismay and despondency in the people had grown. The proximate reasons for this not only seemed to be the lack of dialogue with the Kashmiris but also because tourism had plummeted, hotel business was in dire straits, there was flight of capital and an overall economic downturn leading to greater unemployment and economic distress. The situation was much worse than the previous two years.

At the same time, the distance between rest of India and the Kashmiri youth but also others seems to have increased. This was evident in the fact that even the people who used to talk reasonably earlier were using the language of the militants and separatists this time. People complained of not only the military approach to the problem of Kashmir but also of a judicial/Constitutional aggression against the people of Kashmir in attempts to undo Article 35A of the Indian Constitution which ensured special rights for the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

However, the only saving grace was that in personal discussions prominent members of civil society continued to use cautious and measured language which suggested that there was still a constituency for peace and that societal leaders were willing to make an effort to end violence and ensure a peaceful atmosphere so that a dialogue could begin to address their issues in a considered and in a less emotionally charged manner.

This was very encouraging as was the positive response of the people to the Prime Minister’s message on Independence Day — that Kashmiris need a hug and not abuse or bullets. People said that they were waiting for the operationalization of the PM’s message and hoped that this would happen soon.

The Disquiet on Article 35A

There was all round opposition to attempts to revoke Article 35A of the Constitution of India. The judicial raking of the Article 35A issue seems to have pushed the demand for ‘Azadi’ to the background (it has, however, neither disappeared nor become secondary, only less urgent) as people see the attempts to change rules for special rights of people of J&K as an existential threat of changing the Valley’s demographic profile.

People believe that revoking Article 35A can potentially lead to a demographic change in the state as outsiders are facilitated to buy land and property in the state. This was completely unacceptable to them.

The simmering anger also stemmed from the belief that the Central government was a “passive collaborator” in the petitions filed before the Supreme Court of India.This belief was strengthened not because of the statements from the ruling party at the Centre and its frontal organisations but the Central government’s attitude itself. So Kashmiris openly alleged that the judicial attack on J&K’s special status was being “stage managed” by the Central government.

Kashmiris recall that Article 35A had been challenged in the Supreme Court earlier also but each time the Central government filed a counter-affidavit. Now, not only had the Central government not filed a counter-affidavit, the Attorney General in fact argued for a wider debate on the Constitutional provision.

The Kashmiri people are asking why the state government had been left alone to defend Article 35A and whether it was not the responsibility of the Central government to defend the Constitution. A lack of clear answers to these two questions has led people to doubt the Central government’s intentions.

They suggested that the government had erred in the Supreme Court and that instead of keeping quiet, it could have easily told the apex court that this was a political issue which needed to be discussed in Parliament. Alternatively, if the government felt that there were some issues with Article 35A relating to the fundamental rights of J&K women getting married to men outside the state, then the government should have argued that the matter be referred to a 9-judge Constitutional bench.

There is a general belief, however, that if Article 35A is removed through a judicial decision, there would be widespread trouble in the state. Some even claimed that if Article 35A and Article 370 are tempered with “you will see and uprising like no other” witnessed up to now. It is also expected that the alliance between the Peoples’Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will, in all likelihood, breakdown if Article 35A is struck down by the Supreme Court.

Raids by National Investigating Agency (NIA)

There were two sets of reactions to the NIA raids on separatist leaders and their associates for receiving money illegally from Pakistan. Some sought to point out that the Indian government and its agencies had also been funding Kashmir leaders of all hues and justified using foreign money by the separatists. They said raiding the separatist leaders and thereby trying to delegitimize them was part of a whole host of hostile acts by the Central government aimed at the Kashmiris. The attempt, they claimed, was to somehow show that the unrest in Kashmir was entirely due to funds from Pakistan which was not the case at all. This view came largely – but not limited only to them — from people sympathetic to the separatist leaders, especially youngsters and those from the legal profession.

Others, however,pointed out that the very fact that the ordinary Kashmiris had not reacted by protesting against the raids on the separatist leaders by the NIA, showed that they were not unduly bothered by these developments. This, they said, was because they believed that those who had been charged with violation of Foreign Exchange management Act ought to come clean and provide transparent accounts. The NIA raids, however, seemed to have instilled some fear among separatist sympathizers, that if they speak up publicly they too could be picked up for questioning.

Counter-insurgency Operations and Militancy

The security forces have clearly had some remarkable success in eliminating militant leadership in the last few months. However, on the one had this has sent a strong signal to all concerned that there would be no soft-pedaling on militants, on the other, it could also lead to new recruits and more spectacular attacks on the security forces.

As far as new recruits to militancy are concerned, many felt that, they required a greater outreach to be brought into the mainstream. They have hardly any weapons, no training but are very high on motivation. Most of the local militants are to be found in South Kashmir, while those who support Islamic fundamentalism of the Al Qaeda or Islamic State variety are limited to areas like Pulwama and Tral. Their life expectancy, when the security forces are working with targets of eliminating all active militants by the year-end — is likely to be very short.

There are those in Kashmir who were upset with the security forces setting themselves targets for killing militants – it is said that of the approximately 225 local militants, 139 had already been killed and the rest were likely to be eliminated by December this year. They claimed that setting such deadlines and targets by the security forces was disturbing even as new recruitment to the militant ranks continued to take place. “Our security forces are instruments of our Constitution. We should not allow them to become a part of our failure (in Kashmir),” one of them remarked.

Economic downturn

The Kashmir Valley used to get about 15 lakh tourists in the summer season in a good year. Up to August 17 this year, the total number of tourist had come down to 6.73 lakh as compared to 11.43 lakh last year for the same period.

About 5 lakh people are connected to the tourism industry directly in Kashmir. Today, a situation has come where they are staring at being unemployed in the near future.  The tourist season went badly last year because of curfew and violence but this year even when there is no curfew and violence has gone down, tourism is worse than last year.

Big hotel chains like the Taj Group, ITC and others who had partnered with local hoteliers to open new hotels and upgrade existing ones are no longer sure whether they would be able to keep up their operations after the next two months. A large number of upper end hotels have shut down up to 75 per cent of their rooms because of low occupancy.

The local tourism industry representatives claim that Kashmir is not being sold as a destination in the rest of India. They are under the impression that this is part of a larger conspiracy to finish off Kashmir’s economy, and some private national TV channels are playing a damaging role by projecting all Kashmiris as terrorists and making out as if Kashmir were a war-zone. These TV channels had single handedly managed to project Kashmiris as a hated community in the rest of India.

One of them even alleged that big travel companies were being told not to sell Kashmir to tourists. On Social Media also there has been a campaign against Kashmir, some alleged. As evidence they pointed to a BJP legislator from Telangana urging people to go for Amarnath Yatra but not buy anything from local Kashmiris.

In addition, industry sources point out that outside contractors – especially from Andhra, Telangana and Maharashtra – no longer want to work on projects in J&K.  Even a reputed contractor working on the Ratle hydroelectric project on the Chenab had ‘run away’.

Up to now, there was migration of workers from UP and Bihar for low-skilled work in Kashmir. For jobs requiring higher skills, workers used to come from the rest of India. With the economy in decline, the avenues for them in the Valley were shrinking. As for the educated Kashmiri youngsters many of them leave homes for education in the rest of India and abroad and find work there. At this rate, many Kashmiris fear that they will be left with only a generation of youngsters who either throw stones or prefer to pick up the gun.

Governance and Accountability

The governance and administration in J&K remain by and large unstable and those manning them have little time to deal with internal issue in a sustained manner because of the prevailing situation. Before they begin addressing one issue, another more pressing one emerges.

The situation in the state itself is to a large extent impacted by developments beyond the control of the state government – e.g. the legal challenge to Article 35A, the repeated statements about abolition of Article 370 by those close to the ruling party at the Centre, the exaggeration of the ground situation in the Kashmir Valley by the national media, especially TV channels, etc.

Some Kashmiris go to the extent of saying that all institutions in J&K are discredited and what is worse is that there are no political leaders with unquestioned credentials. So people have no faith either in the system or the mainstream political leaders. There is frustration in the people because of lack of governance and the absence of law and order. One of the reasons they support the nebulous idea of “Azadi” is because they feel that the present system does not deliver and perhaps something else would solve their problems.

There are thinking Kashmiris who believe that India is unable to win the hearts and minds of the people because in order to do that credible institutions and political leaders are needed. Some even suggested that if there was focus on nothing else but on providing law and order like the rest of India then things would improve. Instead the government’s focus seemed to be only the symptom – militancy – and not on the disease.

Accountability at all levels was also emphasized.  People feel that there is no accountability within the system or even outside it. As it is people feel that the state government machinery functions in an arbitrary and illegal manner. Increasingly they think so of the security forces too.

To usher in accountability, it was suggested that the Central government might set an example by considering setting up a grievance redress mechanism within the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, even if it cannot be removed – perhaps a tribunal headed by an army general and a judge could be a solution.

The general feeling was that unless credibility of institutions is restored, nothing can move forward in the state. The constant focus on militancy alone means that administration is ignored and one tends to ignore the fact that 50 per cent of the atrocities are by the police and the army under the control of the government. It is non-governance which resulted in militancy, many felt.

Prime Minister’s I-Day Gesture

While there were some Kashmiris who rejected the PM’s change of tone on Kashmir at this year’s Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort as nothing more than demagoguery, a majority seemed to welcome it.

Those skeptical of the PM signaling a change in government policy said that this was not yet evident on the ground and therefore what he said remained at the level of posturing. They felt that since the Prime Minister now seemed focused on his re-election, it was  not possible for him to start any long term process that could led to resolution of the Kashmir tangle. Some strongly believed that conflation of non-initiation of political outreach, strong military-centric approach, and vigour in legal pursuit of old cases against separatists and their associates, and the PM’s offer of embracing Kashmiris appear to conform to a plan. However, its contours were unfathomable at this stage.

With the majority of people with whom this group interacted, the PM’s statement seemed to have gone down well. They were happy that he had said what he did and wished that he had done so earlier. They believed that like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi could also change the atmosphere in J&K and make the people in the state feel secure. However, they also pointed out that this could not be done by putting a brake on the state’s economy, unnecessary harassment of civilians and killing of youngsters.

However, most of them also said that the PM needed to operationalize the sentiments he had expressed and that his sentiments must be reflected in the situation on the ground. As of now, many of them felt that the government had boxed both the separatists and itself into a corner and there was no one to engage with to resolve the conflict. They said that Kashmiris would be ready for an embrace but they would want something more than words.

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गाय क्यों बचानी है, इसके तर्क अद्भुत हैं. बंदर मांस नहीं खाता तो इंसान को भी मांस नहीं खाना चाहिए.
सबसे अद्भुत तर्क यह है कि दूध का सेवन करने से अन्न कम खाना पड़ता है और इससे टट्टी में बदबू कम आएगी.

यह शाकाहार का घोषणापत्र है.

खैर, किताब का आधा हिस्सा यह बताता है कि गोरक्षिणी सभाएं कैसे काम करेंगी. चंदा कैसे आएगा वगैरह…. मैं कितना बताऊं. ऑनलाइन उपलब्ध है. पढ़ लीजिए.

अच्छा है कि उसी गुजरात से गोरक्षिणी सभा का खेल खत्म हो रहा है… कुछ दिन तो गुजारिए गुजरात में!

अमिताभ असली. 
गाय की लाशें असली.

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