Jammu and Kashmir these days, it seems, has turned into a highly productive news factory. New trends in insurgency, Centre’s indifference in extending economic support and bickering on petty issues in the ruling alliance is daily staple of the news mill while as the most recent leads are catchier and newsier. The High Court intervention on enforcing beef ban; whether the marathon runners were molested; whether separatist veteran Syed Ali Geelani operates a twitter handle are the issues that are shaping the recent debates. So it is obvious that Jammu and Kashmir’s ranking by a recent World Bank report on the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ could not catch much attention –neither in Kashmir nor in Jammu, neither among the pro-beef nor among the anti-beef lobby.
Since earlier this year all states in the country have been participating in an agreed set of reforms to make setting up of businesses easy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship ‘Make in India’ Programme identified and finalized a 98-point action plan for ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in a meeting of state Chief Secretaries in December 2014.