Apples Rot On The Branch In Kashmir

Harvest season has found the market in the northern Kashmiri town of Sopore — usually packed with people, trucks and produce at this time of year — empty, while in orchards across Jammu and Kashmir unpicked apples rot on the branch. In one of the world’s largest apple growing regions, the lockdown imposed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi abolished the state’s special status has cut transport links with buyers in the country and abroad, fruit growers and traders say, plunging the industry into turmoil. Modi sold the move as a way to spur growth by integrating the state with the rest of India. But, for now, the unrest that has come in the wake of his government’s action has upended the economy. At dawn late last week, the market in Sopore — a town known locally as “Little London” for its lush orchards, big houses, and relative affluence — was deserted, its gates locked. In orchard after orchard surrounding Sopore, apples hung rotting on trees. “Everyone is scared,” alone trader, rushing to an adjoining mosque for morning prayers, told Reuters. “No one will come.” Apples are the lifeblood of Kashmir’s economy, involving 3.5 million people, around half the state’s population. On August 5, just as the harvest season as getting underway, the government abrogated provisions in the Constitution that gave the Jammu and Kashmir partial autonomy and stipulated only residents could buy the property or hold government jobs. Strict movement restrictions were imposed simultaneously, and mobile, telephone, and Internet connections snapped. The government has promised rapid economic development and plans an investor summit later this year to attract some of India’s top companies to the region, create jobs and lure young people away from militancy.