July 05
Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said decades of militancy had shattered the education system in Jammu Kashmir and this is one of factors behind stone-pelting protests in the state.
The Army General said that Kashmiris were being “fed with misinformation that India was anti-Muslim and those who eat beef were being killed”.
He said the Kashmiri people try to shield militants. They pelt stones as it is easily available. Stone-pelting is not something new.
He added that unemployment is a factor for this, but it is not unique to Kashmir. There is unemployment in other parts of the country as well. Youngsters there don’t pelt stones. Education there (Kashmir) is shattered. Most of the schooling is done through madarassas, which cannot get you good jobs.
“If Kashmir is also peaceful, the Army will be taken away from there,” he said.
Interestingly Jammu Kashmir has seen a 13.22 per cent growth rate in education in the 2011 census and is 6th on the list of 29 states and 7 union territories. The overall difference witnessed in Literacy rate in India was 9.21 per cent in 2011 compared to the 2001 census.