For decades, entrepreneurship in Jammu and Kashmir has been a journey of extraordinary perseverance, not merely against economic uncertainties,  political disturbances and shrinking markets, but also against an administrative system that too often treated entrepreneurs as supplicants rather than contributors to society. Those who invested their lifetime savings, mortgaged ancestral properties, created employment and kept their enterprises alive through difficult circumstances frequently found themselves pleading before government officials for permissions, clearances and even their legitimate dues. Instead of encouragement and facilitation, they encountered suspicion, procedural hurdles and bureaucratic control.

How different has been the approach in Europe and most economically advanced countries, where entrepreneurs are recognised as drivers of investment, innovation, employment and prosperity. Governments generally regard bureaucracy as an instrument for facilitating lawful enterprise, not exercising dominance over those who undertake commercial risks and create livelihoods. The guiding principle is simple: administration exists to serve legitimate economic activity, not to make entrepreneurs subservient to it.

India, unfortunately, inherited a different administrative culture from its colonial past. For decades after Independence, the Licence Raj placed entrepreneurs at the mercy of officials for permissions, approvals and inspections. Those who invested their savings, mortgaged properties and generated employment were reduced to petitioners before officials whose responsibility should have been to facilitate them. Economic liberalisation in 1991 dismantled much of the Licence Raj, but its mindset survived. The bureaucrat continued to be perceived as the authority and the entrepreneur as someone seeking a favour.A significant turning point came in 2009 when representatives of 19 leading MSME associations across India approached Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, highlighting hardships caused by bureaucratic hurdles, Inspector Raj, complicated regulations, inadequate institutional credit and ineffective rehabilitation mechanisms. Recognising these concerns, the Prime Minister constituted a high-level Task Force on MSMEs under his Principal Secretary, T. K. A. Nair, to recommend corrective measures.

I had the privilege, as head of an industrial chamber in Jammu and Kashmir, of being nominated as member to the Task Force. Having witnessed the difficulties faced by entrepreneurs, I regarded this as an opportunity to bring their grievances before the highest levels of........

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