बेबाक · Editorial
Jammu's Market Fire and the Two Indias of Trade: Guarded Bourses, Exposed Bazaars
Forty shops lost within minutes in Jammu should make governments treat the small trader's market as public infrastructure, with protection that is real rather than discretionary.
Forty shops, minutes
A massive fire at a market in Jammu has destroyed 40 shops, according to reports. The market held dry fruit shops, blanket stores, dhabas and eateries, and it was engulfed within minutes. The available reports do not establish the cause, the full value of what was lost, or whether anyone was hurt, and none of that should be assumed. One fact is already clear. For the owners and workers of those 40 establishments, a livelihood held as stock, cash and goodwill under one roof was lost in minutes. That is the real measure of the event.
The market that is protected
Recent figures from the financial markets offer a sharp contrast. The National Stock Exchange reported that its second-quarter profit rose 23 percent, supported by higher trading activity. Average daily traded volume in the cash market rose 24 percent year on year to ₹1,18,377 crore in Q2FY27, although sequential earnings fell 17 percent. Formal exchanges of this kind operate within an established framework of oversight. The bazaar, where many Indians earn their living, rarely receives comparable attention. Growth that reaches the bottom of the income ladder has to include the dhaba owner and the blanket seller. Measuring it only by the cash segment of an exchange gives an incomplete picture.
Both sides, honestly
The case against more regulation of markets deserves a fair hearing. Traders often argue that inspections add cost and open the door to petty extraction, and concerns about official discretion are not imaginary. In a separate case, the Anti-Corruption Bureau says searches at 10 locations against an Additional Director of MEPMA uncovered assets worth ₹4.75 crore, including properties, gold, silver, vehicles, bank balances and electronic gadgets. The Bureau adds that the market value of these properties is expected to be much higher than their official value. These remain allegations until a court rules on them, and the case has no connection to market inspections. Still, it illustrates why citizens and traders can be wary of officials who hold discretionary power. The opposing case is just as strong. Without safety standards, dense markets turn small sparks into total losses, and those losses fall on the people least able to absorb them.
The state can build markets
Indian institutions do know how to build and support markets when they choose to. Backed by the Centre's Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, fresh consignments of Indian pomegranates and kiwi fruit have reached the Dubai market, opening new markets for the country's farmers. The exchange system behind the NSE's numbers did not appear by accident either. The weakness lies in priorities, not in capacity. The trader in a crowded Jammu lane is as much a participant in the national economy as the investor placing an order on a screen. Public policy too often treats one as deserving careful design and the other as deserving only sympathy after a disaster.
What should follow
The Jammu and Kashmir administration should publish its finding on the cause of the fire within a fixed period and complete a transparent loss assessment for all 40 shops. It should then audit dense commercial markets across the Union Territory for fire-tender access, hydrants and electrical load before winter deepens. Safety inspections should follow a published checklist with digitally recorded results, which would limit the kind of discretion that fuels distrust of officials. States should also consider supporting premiums for group fire insurance through traders' associations. Protection for the small trader should be built in advance, like any other public infrastructure.
A country that can track every trade on its exchanges should be able to keep a lane open for a fire tender in its bazaars.
What this editorial rests on
Drawn from our live multi-newsroom feed — read the reporting at source.
An editorial is the considered opinion of the FarziUPSC desk, argued from the sourced reporting above and written under our published persona, बेबाक. We name institutions, not parties. If we are wrong, we will say so. How we work →