Kashmiri Pundit Rehabilitation: Six Families, Three Rooms, One Toilet, One Kitchen
Channel: VideoVolunteers
Date: 14/07/2020

Seven years ago, more than 2,600 Pandit migrants returned to Kashmir after the government offered them jobs and a bouquet of promises. In 2008, the Indian government announced the Prime Minister’s Return, Relief, and Rehabilitation Package, amounting to Rs 1,618 crore, for KashmiriPandits who had migrated in the 1990s. As part of the package, 2,650 migrants were provided state jobs in 2010, so they could come back to their homeland and make new lives. They had been promised, apart from employment, “family accommodation”, financial assistance for two years after returning, and schools and scholarships for their children. The Mattan camp has 16 flats. One is used by the Central Reserve Police Force and another house by the Relief and Rehabilitation office. That leaves 14 flats for around 240 people. Around 18 people live in a flat of three rooms, a kitchen, and a washroom.

On one hand, the govt of India has been pushing its voice very strongly for the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pundits, but on the ground, people who returned to the valley, live a miserable life. 
"the promises made with us proved to be a lie after our return, we are mostly govt teachers, and we need to be in the queue in the morning for going to the bathroom," says Ashwini hi, a Kashmiri pundit who has returned back to Anantnag from Jammu. 

 According to Krishna Ji, "we have been left in deep trouble, half of the family lives in Jammu and half the family is living here, it is difficult."

Community Correspondent Rayees Ahmad reports from Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir for Video Volunteers

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वीडियो वालंटियर्स के सामुदायिक संवाददाता के द्वारा यह वीडियो बनाया गया है। सामुदायिक संवाददाता हिंदुस्तान के हाशिये के तबकों से आते हैं और ऐसी कहानियां बयान करते हैं जो सामने नहीं आ पातीं, मुख्यधारा का मीडिया जिन्हें अनदेखा कर देता है। जो इन ख़बरों को जीते हैं वो खुद इन कहानियों को सामने लाते हैं। दूर-दराज के इलाकों की ये ख़बरें, मानवाधिकार और विकास संबंधी मसलों पर वैश्विक स्तर पर चुनौती का संदर्भ बनती हैं। इन संवाददाताओं की आवाज़ और बदलाव के पहल को बुलंद करने में हमारा साथ दें। वीडियो वालंटियर्स एक सामुदायिक मीडिया संगंठन है जो वैश्विक सामुदायिक मीडिया आंदोलन की पहलकदमी और निरंतरता के जरिये भारत के 40 लाख लोगों के जीवन को सीधे तौर पर प्रभावित किया है और बदलाव को मुमकिन बनाया है। लोगों को सशक्त करता है और उनकी आवाज़ बुलंद करता है।