Sheetal Banchariya
Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, there have been multiple lockdowns across the country. Now, with Unlock 4.0 approaching, the lives of people in many parts of India are slowly picking pace with precautions.
Jammu Kashmir, however, does not have a normal condition to go back to, as the troubles are not limited to the current health emergency and has disputes at its very root. The state has been under lockdown, on and off, since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, which has disrupted the day-to-day functioning of the Kashmiri people.
All aspects of life, from education to businesses to career growth, have been majorly affected for over a year and will continue to be hampered because of unavailability of high-speed mobile internet and restrictions on civilian movements.
Impact Beyond the pandemic
For Vijdan, who is a Srinagar-based radio jockey, the last year has been a setback as he had no audience for his radio shows and that has had a negative impact on his social media influence. Most of his shows were shelved during the black-out period across J&K.
“The objective of my job is to make my audience have a gala time. As most people listen to the radio while travelling but when nobody is getting out of their homes, there is going to be no audience for radio shows. It was only around November 2019 that I started hosting radio shows again. But, due to the suspension of high-speed mobile internet in the region, my social media following has definitely gone down,” says RJ Vijdan.
He also claims that the algorithm followed by Instagram has limited his posts’ reach due to the inactivity of accounts during the months post-August 2019. “I have shifted to new ways of content creation where I only make small videos of around 20 seconds because they can be loaded on the 2G network, but somehow the black-out period has affected my reach. My posts do not reach as many people as they used to before. Many people who started out with me, but were based out of Chandigarh or Delhi have become mega social media influencers but I still find it difficult to have a similar online presence,” he adds.
Started with the idea to strengthen the cafe culture in Srinagar where friends converse over coffee and conversations stimulated by books, Books and Bricks café was shut for over 5 months post the abrogation. Anam Khan, co-owner of the café located in Gogjibagh, opposite Amar Singh College, recalls how her employees used to ask her about the plans of re-opening the café in months after August 2019 but she did not have an answer to their questions.
“After Article 370 was abrogated, my cafe was shut for 5 months. It reopened in November but the winter months were extremely slow and then in March, the pandemic happened. So, the place was shut again. During the shutdowns, we accumulated a lot of debts and that was very scary. We are still not in a position to re-pay our debts that are constantly increasing. We felt that we had the responsibility of our staff so we did not stop their salaries and managed however we could since the last one year. It was extremely difficult to keep afloat,” Khan told The Kashmiriyat.
Raging Online Marketing
Though Books and Bricks initially did not bank on online orders, the team has realized that in today’s competitive world online marketing is extremely essential, but the internet suspension has only made it difficult for the business to flourish.
“Our online presence and customer conversions have been extremely hampered by the Internet ban and the subsequent low-speed internet. Right now, it takes a very long time to upload a simple low-resolution file on our Instagram page or to take orders online. It gets frustrating because the customers expect a fast reply and want to place their orders immediately but that does not happen because of the slow internet,” she adds.
While the whole world has drastically taken the online shift amid the corona virus outbreak, the last one year has been exhaustive for J&K students. Schools have been shut for over a year, initially due to the political unrest and then because of the coronavirus. The students have also not been able to take online classes, thanks to 2G internet and limited Wi-Fi connections.
Srinagar girl, Ammara Qaisar is a second-year student of BA (Honors) Sociology at the Delhi University’s Lady Sri Ram College (LSR) for Women. She has been at home for the last few months and has not been able to fulfill her intellectual needs due to the internet suspension.
Recently, Delhi University had decided to hold online open-books exams for final year students from August 10-31. But many students from J&K are grappling with the new exam system.
“The situation is not ideal, to say the least. Students are struggling, especially those in the third year. I remember one of my seniors was afraid that her exam paper may not get accepted due to logistical issues, since apart from Jio Fiber, no 4G network works here, students who don’t have a Wi-Fi connection are suffering,” says Qaisar.