From hope and history to fear and helplessness in a year

Last spring, lakhs of people in rural Jammu and Kashmir had turned out to elect 39,000 panches and sarpanches. It was the state’s first panchayat election in three decades, which had been made possible because militants had chosen not to interfere in a process meant to help resolve day-to-day problems like bijli, sadak and paani. Today, those meant to resolve such problems are as disillusioned as those facing these problems. For one thing, the elected panchayat members allege, they have not been given the powers they had been promised in 14 departments, where they were meant to handle the funds for various projects.

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