Woof Of Nepotism

Public outcry grows over a ‘job-giving clique’ around CM

- Naseer Ganai

MAHATMA Gandhi often used to quote the Vedantic thou­ght ofVasudhaiva Kutumba­kam that envisioned the ent­ire mankind as one family. Seventeen years after his death in 1948, up north of a divided India, Jammu and Kashmir got its Khadi, Village and Industries Board. A statutory body that strives to nurture village artisans, the KVIB conceptu­ally sustains the lofty movement the apostle of non-violence had begun in 1918. A cent­ury later, the KVIB in this border-state is weaving a fabric soiled by widespread allegations of corruption stee­ped in nepotism.

The Khadi board in J&K has spun a contorted interpretation to the Upani­shad line that had always inspired the Father of the Nation. Of late, the KVIB is among the state’s enterprises being peopled by next of kin of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. With every passing day, it’s all about harmonising the household—in a spirit antithetical to the Mahatma’s.

In fact, till last month, the KVIB has been largely unfamiliar to many in J&K. Then, on February 20, the board came up with a list of candidates that it had just recruited for various positions. That opened the Pandora’s Box for the ruling PDP, what with the KVIB being accused of flouting rules to accommodate a close relation of the CM and other relatives of the party’s leaders.