Once a youngster from Pulwama, Adil Ahmed Dar, had rammed his explosive-laden car into a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy, killing 44 personnel in one of the most dastardly terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. On Thursday, another youngster from the region, Nazim Naseer, narrated his entrepreneurial success story to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and got a selfie with him.
This could well explain the transformation in Jammu and Kashmir in the last five years since the abrogation of Article 370 sections.
The village of Nazim Naseer, Samboora, is just two kilometres away from the village of Adil Ahmed Dar in Pulwama. In fact, Dar’s village of Gundibagh in Kakapora is right next to Samboora, separated by just the Jhelum River. However, their stories have turned out quite different.
Dar from Gundibagh in Kakapora took the path of terrorism by colliding his car with a CRPF convoy in February 2019, an attack followed by Indian surgical air strikes in Pakistan. That terror strike came on February 14, 2019, just before the general elections.
Another youth from Dar’s neighbouring village made a different life choice. At the Prime Minister’s rally in Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium on Thursday, Nazim Naseer narrated his story, which was not only inspirational but impressed the PM enough to click a selfie with him.
Modi, on Nazim’s fervent request for the snap, got him on stage with the Special Protection Group (SPG)’s nod and clicked a selfie with Nazim, calling him his “friend” and saying he was “impressed by the good work Nazim was doing” in Kashmir.
Nazim told the PM that his journey started in 2018 when he put two beehive boxes on his roof when he was in class 10.
“I went on the internet and in 2019 I decided to expand this and went to the government which gave me 25 bee boxes on a 50 per cent subsidy. For the first time, I did a honey extraction of 75 kg from them. I used to fill up honey in bottles and sell it in villages – I earned Rs 60,000 from it. This motivated me and slowly I expanded to 200 bee boxes after taking a grant from the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) of Rs 5 Lakh. In 2020, I opened my website, created a brand for my product, and sold thousands of kilos of honey online. Now, I have 2,000 bee boxes and I have encouraged other youths also. 100 of these local youths have joined me in the business now. In 2023, I got an FPO and we have established marketing linkages to expand,” Nazim said to the Prime Minister.
The youngster also said he listened to his own mind to open the business rather than becoming a doctor or an engineer as his family wanted. The PM said Nazim had brought about a “sweet revolution” in Kashmir.
PM Modi complimented Nazim for his vision as a student and his parents for his upbringing. “You are giving direction to the youth of the country and are our strength,” the Prime Minister told Nazim.
The youngster said he had clicked a selfie with a Modi portrait in 2023 but wished to take one with the PM in person. Modi granted his request and the picture posted with Nazim by the PM was trending on social media on Thursday.
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