SRINAGAR: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the centre and the state of Manipur to take the required actions to improve security and provide aid and rehabilitation to those affected by ethnic violence in the northeastern state. Besides, the apex court asked the Centre and the Manipur government to file a status report in ten days and posted the matter for hearing on May 17.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said the top court is concerned deeply about the loss of life and property because of the violence in the state. “Our immediate goal is to protect, rescue, and rehabilitate people,” the Supreme Court observed, asking the Centre and the state government for information on relief camps. “They must be returned to their homes safely and religious sites must also be safeguarded.”
Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General, represented both the Centre and the Manipur government. He notified the Supreme Court panel of the efforts the government had taken to address the violence. He informed the court that 52 companies of the Central Armed Police Force, as well as Army and Assam Rifles contingents, had been deployed in the conflict zones.
Mehta told the division bench, which also included Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, that flag marches and peace meetings are being organised in areas of violence. The Supreme Court ordered that all necessary steps be made to rehabilitate people who had been displaced.
Earlier, clashes have erupted between Meiteis, the predominant community in Imphal valley with over 53 per cent of the entire state population, and tribal populations, particularly Kukis, who live in the hill regions, since Wednesday. The plan to add Meiteis to the scheduled tribal category was the direct cause of the violence.
More than 50 people have reportedly been killed in violent clashes between the tribals living in the Manipur hills and the majority Meitei community residing in the Imphal Valley over the latter’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. More than 23,000 people have been rescued and sheltered in military garrisons and relief camps, Orissa Post reported.
Shashi Tharoor, the senior Congress politician, took to Twitter to condemn the BJP government over the violence in Manipur. “As the Manipur violence persists, all right-thinking Indians must ask themselves what happened to the much-vaunted good governance we had been promised. The voters of Manipur are feeling grossly betrayed just a year after putting the BJP in power in their state. It’s time for President’s Rule; the state Govt is just not up to the job they were elected to do,” Tharoor tweeted.
As the Manipur violence persists, all right-thinking Indians must ask themselves what happened to the much-vaunted good governance we had been promised. The voters of Manipur are feeling grossly betrayed just a year after putting the BJP in power in their state. It’s time for…
Earlier today Assam Rifles tweeted that, “Modi Battalion of #AssamRifles on 07 May, organised an interaction programme for the community leaders of Kuki and Meitei & CSOs of Pallel. The focus was to come together and maintain peace & tranquillity in the times when Manipur state has seen unprecedented violence.”
Modi Battalion of #AssamRifles on 07 May, organised an interaction programme for the community leaders of Kuki and Meitei & CSOs of Pallel. The focus was to come together and maintain peace & tranquility in the times when Manipur state has seen unprecedented violence. @HMOIndiapic.twitter.com/VwZkUrpHif
It was tragic that in the middle of the night when a hotel went up in flames, the inmates were deep into slumber and two of them – including the hotel manager, lost their lives. Five others survived with serious injuries. Now the government has ordered an enquiry into the destruction of the Maa Shanti Hotel. Survivors said though the hotel management informed the government about the mishap, the fire tenders took their own time from reaching the hill station from Kud and Batote, from the two sides of the Patnitop hills. The deceased manager was been identified as Raman Sadhotra of Samba and the other deceased was identified as Surinder Kumar of Sudhmahadev, Chennai. All the five injured in the incident were locals from Jammu and Kashmir.
In Samba, Jammu Kashmir Police said they traced and recovered 23 missing females within three months
KISHTWAR
Villagers and troopers gather near the wreckage of an IAF chopper after it crashed in Budgam area, outskirts of Srinagar, Kashmir, Wednesday, Feb.27, 2019.
Yet another army helicopter crashed after a “hard landing” on the banks of Marua River in Marwa’s Machna Village killing the flying machine’s technician, Pabballa Anil, as the two pilots survived injured. The Dhruv was in operational mode and the crew had conveyed the chopper has developed some snag. As the residents saw the chopper crashing, they mounted a quick rescue operation, which was later joined by police and the army. Anil, 30, hailed from Telangana. The Army has ordered a court of inquiry into the helicopter crash incident. Earlier, a Dhruv crashed in Lakhanpur on January 25, 2021, and killed its pilot. On August 3, 2021, Rudra helicopter crashed into Ranjit Sagar dam on the Kathua-Pathankot border, killing both pilots. On September 21, 2021, Army’s Cheetah helicopter crash-landed in dense forests near Patnitop in Udhampur district, killing both pilots. On March 11, 2022, Army’s Cheetah helicopter crashed in the Gurez sector in Bandipora district, killing its co-pilot.
Earlier, the entire fleet of ALH Dhruv with the armed forces was grounded after the March 8 Navy chopper accident off the coast of Mumbai. Subsequently, the Army had allowed a select number of helicopters, including the one that met with the accident, to fly after clearing all the checks and procedures. There are around 300 ALH Dhruv helicopters, of which 145 are with the Army.
Between 2019 and 2022, the passport was denied to 805 citizens in Jammu and Kashmir.
REASI
JeM militant commander Ashiq Nengroo’s house demolished in Pulwama district
The administration has demolished the “illegal” house of a school teacher Mohammad Auraf Sheikh, whose name was linked to twin Jammu blasts earlier this year. It was constructed on State land under Khasra No 602/457/1 at the village Baransal (Mahore). Earlier, he was terminated by the Government when his involvement in the twin Narwal blasts was established by the police. One of the blasts killed five security personnel.
The Government of India has banned 14 messaging apps in Jammu and Kashmir for spreading terror. These include Crypviser, Enigma, Safeswiss, Wickrme, Mediafire, Briar, BChat, Nandbox, Conion, IMO, Element, Second Line, Zangi, and Threema.
LONDON
Jay Mala, the widow of Panthers Party’s founder, Bhim Singh, was finally cremated nine days after her death. The cremation followed days of drama and an apology by their son, Ankit Love, 39, who lives in the UK. Apparently, Love had conveyed that his mother should not be cremated in his absence. However, he could not fly home to Jammu because the Government of India did not process his visa because he was amongst the blacklisted people who had protested outside Indian High Commission in London. “I Ankit Love, son of late Prof. Bhim Singh and late Adv. Jay Mala, resident of the UK hereby sincerely apologise for my mistake of pelting eggs and stones at the Indian High Commission in the UK which I deeply and sincerely regret,” Ankit wrote a day later in an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mala, an erstwhile advocate, lived with her niece Mrignayani Slathia at Domana in Jammu, fell from the stairs at her home on April 25, and died the next day at the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu. Her body was preserved by GMC Jammu at the request of her son.
Her corpse, however, became yet another issue for the squabbling Singh clan, who have been battling over the party leadership. After Mala died, it was Vilakshan Singh who took her body to Sidhra as another of Singh’s relatives, Harsh Dev Singh, a former minister, demanded an autopsy. Going by the media reports, it was a tussle over control of the party, with Slathia’s brother Vilakshan Singh on one side and Harsh Dev Singh on the other. Within minutes after Harsh Dev sought a post-mortem, Slthia and her brother returned the body to GMC where it was preserved. After the government permitted Ankit to fly in, the body was cremated at Devika in Udhampur. Bhim Singh died on May 31, 2022.
After Singh’s death, Panthers Party split into two groups. Vilakshan was elected president at a meeting chaired by Jay Mala, but a separate faction that claimed to include all executive members of the party elected P K Ganjoo as its president. Both factions approached the Election Commission to stake claim to the party symbol, but later came together again, with Vilakshan continuing as president and Ganjoo taking over as working president. The problem started when Harsh Dev, who had resigned from the JKNPP and joined the Aam Aadmi Party, claimed to have returned to the JKNPP after Bhim Singh’s death, and said he had been elected party president. Both Vilakshan and Ganjoo contested this claim.
Jammu’s 21 state-run schools will get have 286 ICT-enabled classrooms by the end of August.
KAK SARAI
Fiancé Stabber Sent to 6-day police remand
In an unprecedented bizarre incident, a young woman stabbed her fiancé, Adil Kaloo, a scrap dealer, in broad daylight and was arrested. Identified as Asifa Bashir, a resident of Parimpora, the lady lost her cool when the two were in a car.
The man was injured and bled profusely while the woman fled from the spot. The incident invited media attention because Asifa was running a Facebook page and claiming to be a journalist. Apart from clicking photographs with some officers, she was even flaunting her award by some Maharashtra groups. The two had been engaged a year ago and the nikah was an outcome of a love affair. Now, she is resting in jail and he is recovering in a hospital. Will they fall in love again? Nobody knows.
In Baramulla, 156 drug peddlers were arrested – 9 booked under PSA, in 2023, so far
POONCH
A novel bank robbery was attempted by a dismissed bank employee in Poonch. Mohammad Abrar, a resident of Ari (Mendhar), was caught while trying to transfer money from the bank in the dead of the night. With the intention to hack the bank’s security system, Abrar entered the bank during working hours and spent the entire night hiding in its false ceiling. The robbery plan got exposed as Abrar’s attempt to hack the bank’s security system alerted the officials. He is in police custody.
Jammu and Kashmir collected a GST of Rs 917.85 Crore in April 2023.
KASHMIR
G20 is Group of Twenty, an intergovernmental forum, comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy.
Security is on high alert in the wake of the fast-approaching G20’s Tourism Working Group (TWG) meeting on May 22-24. Reports suggest the authorities will involve Marcos, the marine commandos, and NSG apart from the existing security set-up. Lt Governor Manoj Sinha presided over a high-level meeting in which the security was reviewed. Earlier, the police said they arrested Farooq Ahmad Wani, a resident of Wagoob Hygam, Baramulla, who was a driver in a 5-star hotel. Sensing the gravity of the threat after the Poonch attack, elite Marine Commandos (MARCOS) and National Security Guards (NGS) are being placed for the G20 event’s security.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha announced ownership rights for the refugee families for 46666 kanals of land allotted to them on May 7, 1954, after they emigrated from Pakistan in 1947. The land was allotted in Pargwal island in Akhnoor, RS Pura and Bishnah tehsils in Jammu, and parts of Samba and Hiranagar in Kathua district.
JAMMU
In order to prevent the use of women for drug peddling and other issues, the government has started deploying women constables at various vital checkpoints in Jammu City during night hours. This is happening for the first time. At checkpoints, they keep tabs on the movement of women residents. So far 50-60 women constables have been deployed on night duty around exit and entry points in the temple city.
The government is encouraging pea cultivation (PB 89 variety) in Uri’s 102 villages and it fetches better prices in Delhi’s Azadpur Market.
TEETWAL
A brand new Sharda Peth temple is coming up at Teetwal (Karnah0 on the banks of Kishanganga river, barely at a stone’s throw from the Line of Control.
Weeks after the revival and reconstruction of the Sharda temple, a Sikh Gurudwara reopened in Teetwal. Its reconstruction was funded by
Save Sharda Committee that reconstructed the temple destroyed in the partition. The spot on which the twin religious spaces existed was protected ad preserved by the native Muslims even though not a single Hindu or Sikh resides in Teetwal. The revnue records have 5 marlas of land recorded as Ahl-e-Singha and 18 marlas as Ahl-e-Hanood. The land was demarcated and Bhumi Pujan was done on December 2, 2021, paving the way for the installation of Guru Granth Sahib inside the Gurudwara amidst chants.
The National Investigation Agency raided 16 locations in Baramulla and Kishtwar districts, mostly on the residences of banned Jamaat-e-Islami activists
JAMMU
Aerial view of Jammu city
The Jammu and Kashmir administration will be allotting 336 low-income group flats to non-local labourers under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) mission in Jammu’s Sunjwan area. The Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board has invited online applications from people, who have migrated to Jammu temporarily or permanently for employment or education or long-term tourist visit, for its 336 economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Low Income Group (LIG) flats. The flats are located at Sunjwan, in the vicinity of major Industrial estates Gangyal and Bari Brahmna. Initially, they will have an allotment for three years, which is extendable for five years. Housing Board said the allotment of 96 units will take place in the first phase followed by 112 units in the second phase by June 30 and allotment of the rest of the 128 units will be made in the third phase by October 31 this year.
Despite three prominent absentees’, the G20 Youth Summit in Ladakh was an impressive success, reports Raashid Andrabi
Some participants of the Y20, a G20 summit activity, in Leh on April 26, 2023
The Sino-Indian standoff has kept the world’s attention diverted towards Ladakh heights for the last two years. Now, the arid desert is in the news again, this time for playing host to around 100 delegates from 30 countries for the Y20 Pre-Summit, a precursor to the G20 Summit.
Ladakh already a preferred tourist destination for Western tourists ensured that the global event be celebrated to promote the brand Shangri La. The event kicked off with a grand flourish. The delegates descended upon the serene Sindhu Sanskriti Kendra Auditorium, transforming it into a melting pot of cultures, ideas, and aspirations. The air was abuzz with contagious energy as the guests were welcomed with traditional Ladakhi hospitality.
Soon, the guests were driven away on local excursions that left them spellbound. The pristine and spiritual monasteries of Hemis and Thiksey offered them a glimpse of Ladakh’s serene and mystic beauty. They also spent time at Sidhu Zanskar Sangam, Pather Sahab Gurdwara and Shanti Stupa.
Participants
Official sources said a total of 103 delegates attended the two-day event. As many as 68 delegates came from 17 members of the G20. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and China skipped participation.
There were 18 delegates from G20 Guest countries – five from Nigeria, four from Oman, five from Singapore and four from Spain. The global institutions that were invited and participated in the event and sent 17 participants included the ASEAN, Morocco, OECD, PAYU, UN and WHO.
Even though Turkey and Saudi Arabia skipped the event, various OIC members did attend the event. These included Indonesia – a permanent G20 member; Oman and Nigeria (G20 Guest countries) and Morocco, a special invitee.
Objective
The Y20 Pre-Summit aims to bring together leading experts, decision-makers, and youth leaders from G20 countries to discuss and formulate actionable plans for the growth and development of the people. The summit aims to address pressing issues facing young people today, including democracy, governance, innovation, climate change, disaster risk reduction, peacebuilding and reconciliation, health, well-being, and sports.
This event was the first major global event held in Ladakh since the region became a Union Territory, and it is significant in light of the ongoing political turmoil and protests that followed the abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A, which reserved special rights over land and jobs for locals.
The session was inaugurated by the Lt Governor of Ladakh, Brig BD Mishra (Retd), and graced by several dignitaries including TashiGyalson, Chief Executive Councillor, and JamyangTsering Namgyal, Member of Parliament, Ladakh.
Brig Mishra (Retd) set the stage with his speech about the potential of the youth of India and the great honour of hosting the delegates at the highest meeting point of India at 11,000 feet above sea level. He emphasized India’s famous philosophy of Athithi Devo Bhava(Guest is God) and assured the guests that they would be treated with the utmost respect and hospitality during their stay in Ladakh. The LG also spoke about the vision of G20 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and highlighted the intelligence, commitment, and focus of the Indian youth. In fact, the event saw the launch of [email protected], a book.
Pointing out that no other G20 member had organized a programme of this magnitude, Mishra referred to the delegates as ambassadors who would spread the word about India’s accomplishments when they returned home. To Mishra, G20 has become a household name in India.
In a vibrant display of Ladakhi culture, the LG Mishra cut the ribbon and inaugurated the much-anticipated Ladakh Haat stalls at the Y20 Pre-Summit in the scenic town of Leh. Over 40 skilled artisans from different corners of Ladakh have gathered here to showcase their exquisite handlooms, handicrafts, and processed food products, all steeped in the region’s rich heritage. The event showcased the culture, food, and traditions of Ladakh to familiarise the guest delegates with the unique lifestyle of the region. Things at display included a glimpse of the mountainous landscapes of Ladakh, Anganwadi or courtyard shelter for toddlers, handicrafts and handlooms by SHGs comprised of Ladakhi women, Pashmina wool, wood carving, apricots as a part of the horticulture heritage of Ladakh, sea buckthorn, and winter sports activities like ice climbing, ice skating, skiing, and frozen lake marathon.
Asserting that G20 under India’s Presidency has set new milestones, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister, Anurag Singh Thakur told media that there was a consensus on the five themes of the Y20 summit among the participating countries and international organizations and important suggestions have come on the future challenges including reskilling and Upskilling. The five themes included Youth in Democracy and Governance; Future of Work: Industry 4.0; Innovation and 21st Century Skills; Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction: Making Sustainability a Way of Life; Peace Building and Reconciliation: Ushering in an Era of No War and Health, Wellbeing and Sports: Agenda for Youth. The minister interacted with the delegates in Yuva Samvaad. Without naming any country, the Union minister for youth affairs and sports said those who tried to “spread fear and confusion” would now be feeling the “pain” due to the “roaring success” of the three-day event.
The event which started with yoga sessions in the mornings, concluded with the recording of two short videos on Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan.
Remains of the ill-fated army truck that went up in flames after suspected militants attacked it in Bhata Dhurian area in Mendhar (Poonch) on April 20, 2023. Six soldiers were killed and one survived injured.
Jammu and Kashmir Police have detained six persons after questioning nearly 200 people in Poonch following April 22, attack on an army vehicle in which five soldiers were killed. The operation involving various security agencies in the Bhata Durian belt is still in progress. The agencies investigating the attack have narrowed their focus on two militant handlers based in Pakistan, Rafiq Nai and Habibullah Malik, who are believed to have played a key role in the attack. Both men were designated as militants by the Indian government last year, and their involvement in the recent attack underscores the ongoing threat posed by militants operating from across the border in Pakistan.
Asserting that the attack was carried out with active local support, Dilbagh Singh, the Police Chief said a native, Nasir Ahmad has provided shelter and logistics to attackers. The massive crackdown has triggered outrage after Mukhtar Hussain Shah, a resident of Nar (Mendhar) consumed poison and died by suicide over alleged harassment and torture. Before committing suicide, he had recorded a video.
Singh said the attackers were supplied arms through drones. Three persons formally arrested include Gursi residents- Nissar Ahmad, Farid Ahmad, and Mushtaq. The Poonch Rajouri region is emerging as a challenge. Only six army men were killed in militancy violence in Kashmir since October 2021 as against 21 in Poonch and Rajouri districts during the same period.
School Education Department has directed private schools operating from Government land to admit 25 per cent of their students from weaker sections of society.
KUPWARA
A Kashmiri Imam, who led taraveh prayers during Ramzan 2023, was gifted an Umarh package by the village in north Kashmir.
For Muslims within and outside Kashmir, Ramzan, the Muslim month of fasting, is the era for protracted prayers, charity, and self-introspection. Most of the mosques ensure they have a Hafiz-e-Quran who will lead them in Taraweh prayers and once the month concludes these Imam’s are honoured. Residents of Mareed Mohalla in Kupwara thought out-of-box. Instead of paying him in cash or gifting him worldly valuables, they recognised Maulana Bilal Ahmad Nadvi’s contribution by sending him on Umrah. This was a surprise to the Imam, too. This first-of-its-kind gesture has the potential of becoming the new fashion statement of the faithful, naysayers say.
The government is providing land free of charge in favour of BSNL for saturation of 4G mobile services in all the 303 uncovered villages across Jammu and Kashmir.
HANDWARA
Police arrested a couple in Handwara on April 25, 2023, for running a prostitution racket. Photo:JKP
In yet another shocking event, the Jammu and Kashmir Police uncovered a prostitution ring in the Reshipora, Kupwara. Police said they conducted a raid on a house leading to the arrest of Shabir Ahmad War, his wife and three more people. This is the fourth such scandal in the last few weeks that has come to light in Jammu and Kashmir, with similar operations having been uncovered in Srinagar outskirts including Bagh-e-Mehtab and Nowgam area, and another in Jammu Jewel Chowk. It is immediately not known what pushes individuals to prostitution.
11 Gujaratis were arrested for taking Gandola for a ride with a fake ticket. Earlier a Mumbai tourist group went to jail for the same offence.
MUMBAI
Bollywood flick, Pathaan poster showing the lead actors including Shahrukh Khan, John Ibrahim and Deepika Padukone
Bollywood’s heartthrob Shahrukh Khan has set Kashmir abuzz with excitement as he returned after 11 years to shoot for his upcoming film Dunki. Directed by Raj Kumar Hirani and co-starring Tapsee Pannu, the movie scenes were filmed in the stunning locales of Sonamarg and Pulwama. He also did some shopping in Srinagar but at the S airport, he was mobbed by fans.
Khan’s arrival for a few days has boosted the morale of the administration that recorded 300 film shootings in 2022. LT Governor Manoj Sinha said the region is experiencing a resurgence of the Bollywood era of the 1980s when many films were shot in the area due to its breathtaking beauty. For Shahrukh Khan, his return to Kashmir is a nostalgic one, having shot Jab Tak Hai Jaan in the region back in 2012. Bollywood has always been in love with Kashmir. The only difference from the 1980s is that the government was not incentivising the Bollywood shooting as it is being done big time in 2020.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation stone of Kashmir Medical College and Super-Speciality Hospital being developed by Milli Trust, Delhi, a 100-bed Rs 525-crore project that will have 150 MBBS seats and provide jobs for 2,000 people.
SAMBA
A government employee was arrested for allegedly raping a woman under the guise of being a tantrik. The accused lured the woman to his house on the pretext of healing her skin disease through “magical powers” and then raped her. The police have identified the accused as Subash Chander of Rarian Ramgarh village and a case has been registered against him. The accused is currently behind bars.
Rekha Sharma, chairperson, National Commission for Women (NCW), has revealed that in 2022, women trafficking in Jammu and Kashmir have increased by about 15.26 per cent but it is “just the tip of an iceberg”
BHADERWAH
A group photograph showing the scholars, farmers and representatives of industry in CSIR-IIIM interaction in Pulwama. The photograph was taken in the lavender farm on June 13, 2022
The Chenab Valley’s mini-Kashmir is purple these days as farmers have switched from traditional crops to lucrative lavender cultivation. Over the past decade, lavender cultivation has expanded from 10 kanals of land to about 4000 kanals, with around 2500 farmers now engaged in it. A single lavender plant bears flowers for 15 years and needs little maintenance, and its oil is used in a variety of products, including soaps, cosmetics, perfumes, and medicines.
Bharat Bhushan, one of the first farmers to switch to lavender farming in the region, found that he earned four times more profit from lavender than from traditional maize farming, and he gradually converted his entire 10 kanals of farmland to a lavender farm. After Bhushan’s video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016, the Aroma Mission was launched in Jammu and Kashmir, providing free lavender plants to farmers. The program has been a great success, with 500-600 farmers switching to lavender farming and 1000 kanals of land being brought under its cultivation. Modi acknowledged the region’s effort in his Mann Ki Baat.
KPDCL has 700 positions vacant
DUBAI
Safina Nabi
Kashmir journalist Safina Nabi has won the second prize in the Outstanding Contribution to Peace category of the Fetisov Journalism Award for her article titled “How Kashmir’s half-widows are denied their basic property rights.” The article sheds light on the plight of countless women in Kashmir who have been cut out of inheritances and left to fend for themselves after their husbands disappeared and could never be traced. Women whose husbands have disappeared but not yet been declared dead are referred to as “half-widows” by in Kashmir.
Last week, more than 1200 flats were inaugurated for migrant Kashmiri Pandit migrants under the Prime Minister’s package.
KOKERNAG
A government-run school in Kokernag has performed abysmally as only one of its 25 students in the eighth class passed the examination. The Middle School Khokarpora Adhal Vailoo is now the focus of an investigation. It caters to the requirements of the weaker sections but failed in imparting education.
Of 9700 water bodies in Jammu and Kashmir, more than 76 per are ‘in use’. Almost 48.6 per cent of water bodies are privately owned leaving only the remaining 51.4 percent to public ownership.
SOIBUG
NIA official on a piece of land that was attached by it in a terror funding case.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) attached two houses of sons of banned Hizb-ul-Mujahideen’s chief Syed Salahuddin. Shahid Yusuf lives in Soibug and Syed Ahmad Shakeel in Rambagh Srinagar. NIA spokesperson said they “had been receiving funds from abroad from the associates of their father and overground workers of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.” Their properties were attached under Section 33(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the NIA said. In August 2018, the NIA arrested Shakeel, who was working as a lab technician at SKIMS Soura. In August 2022, the administration sacked Salahuddin’s third son Syed Abdul Mueed, Manager, IT, Jammu Kashmir Entrepreneur Development Institute.
Srinagar Tulip Garden which attracted 375 thousand tourists was open for 33 days, unlike 21 days in 2022.
JAMMU
LG Manoj Sinha inaugurated 576 residential accommodations for PM Package Employees on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.
Days after Padma Bushan awardee, Muzaffar Hussain Baig said the assembly election can take place after the general election across India, LG Manoj Sinha said his administration wants Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir to be held on time. He maintained that three-tier Panchayati Raj System is working very well under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Panchayats will be completing their five-year term in November-December this year and elections to them will have to be conducted in October-November. Polls to Panchayats were held in November-December 2018 after nearly four decades in Jammu and Kashmir during President’s Rule after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support to Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP Government in the erstwhile State.
With a huge network of colleges and a lot of enrolment, the students are dissatisfied with the pace and process of the education they get, reports Babra Wani
Girl students of a college in Srinagar enjoying the sunshine on the premises of the college. KL Image: Bilal Bahadur
With her eyes glued to her mobile, Saima (name changed) is watching a lecture on Scaler and Vector quantities. With the uncertainty of the presence of teachers in her school looming large, she has been preparing for her upcoming examination virtually.
A student of Government Degree College, Kangan, Saima prefers not to attend the college where she is enrolled for BSc. She stopped going to her college because of the “lack of permanent staff for her subjects.” The deficit was managed by contractual lecturers, who leave the college when their contracts expire. “I mean if we talk about the present, we have no teachers there and our exams are about to begin in a month,” she said.
The lack of permanent teachers and staff is not a one-college problem but a pan-higher education issue in Kashmir. It literally triggered a sort of a “scandal” when a college principal formally ordered teachers from unrelated subjects to “engage” students in absence of the relevant faculty.
Karnah Story
Just like Saima, Zahra (name changed) is concerned and worried about the lack of teachers. A fifth-semester BA student at Government Degree College Tanghdar, Zahra recalls how she was a happy girl when she passed her higher secondary examinations just to get admission to the college. The excitement, however, soon went down as she realised the harsh realities.
“Living in a remote area was already challenging enough,” Zahra said. “We already knew that our college will not provide us with the facilities but we never knew that our issues will never be even heard.”
For her, the lack of permanent staff is her biggest concern. “Due to staff issues, we suffer from a lot of academic loss as we are not able to cover the whole syllabus and hence rely completely on self-study to prepare for examinations,” Zahra said. “Ours is a remote area so if we students face any problems here, they are rarely addressed.”
Located some 67 km north of Srinagar, beyond the Sadhna Pass, Tanghdar(Karnah) is located literally on the line of control (LOC). The area remains closed for most of the winter and there are cases when the authorities had to retain the dead in mortuaries till the road opened. The college, established in 2008 has more than 700 students on its rolls. This load is being managed by seven permanent teachers and three contractual teachers!
The Tulail Story
For 20 years old Adnan (name changed) walking for five kilometres to reach the college seems to be a daily routine. In 2019, when he and his friends heard about the establishment of a degree college, they were excited. They thought their hardships will now slow down. “We just have two permanent teachers here, one for history and one for English,” Adnan said.
For more than sixty students enrolled with Government Degree College Tulail, there are only six teachers, with two permanent and four contractual. Located at a distance of 200 km from Srinagar, Tulailis part of Gurez, the new destination for naya Kashmir tourism. The college was established in 2019.
Supposed to help residents not to migrate – as most of Gurez lives between Bandipore and Srinagar, the college could have hugely contributed. Students, however, insist this is not the case.
“We have a history teacher, right?,” one student pointed out. “History as a subject is not taught here. I mean we have other subjects here but not history so technically we have no teachers to study from.”
These teachers engage students in classes organised on a shift basis. Students insist they have bigger issues. “We do not even have our separate principal. The principal of our college watches over two different colleges (the other one is at Dawar), we neither have professors, principal nor facilities here,” Adnan who is currently studying in BA third semester said.
Due to the lack of facilities, mostly a shortage of teachers, students prefer to stay home. This, they do after paying fees and costs for the degrees. Days ahead of the examination, the colleges start assessing attendance and enforcing shortages on them. “Tell me how does it make sense that students travel long distances for hours together, jeopardising their health to study here but there are no teachers? Not even a single official has ever visited us, we have been left to the mercy of the Lord,” a visibly upset Adnan complained.
The lack of staff is not the only issue for the colleges in Gurez. “Last year, when we were writing our examinations, we knew we were appearing for three subjects,” Adnan said. “It was during the examinations that the college told us we have to appear in two more subjects – the subjects we never knew. We were desperate for what to write and a day before we had to write the examination, they sent the syllabus of that subject.”
Students arrive at a college after a gap of nearly one year, following Covid19 safety guidelines issued by the government, in Srinagar, Monday, February 15, 2021. All the educational institutes including schools, colleges and universities in Jammu and Kashmir, which were closed in March last year in wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. KL Image: Bilal Bahadur
The Kashmir Plains
The staff crisis is not a high-altitude issue. Even the colleges within and around Srinagar are suffering.
In Government Degree College, Sumbal, the students said the teachers for skill enhancement courses, which have been recently introduced, are not permanent. They are contractual and keep changing. “The continuous cycle of changing of these contractual teachers results in a month-long gap in the session,” one student said. “The month is wasted which is worrisome as it affects our studies.”
The Sumbal College was established in 2010 and has an enrolment of more than 2500 students. In the neighbouring degree college at Hajin, students are crying for a physical education teacher.
A Teacher Deficit
Subsequent governments in Jammu and Kashmir have gone into the creation of a huge network of colleges. Some villages that had put up huge struggles to get their middle schools upgraded into high schools are now addresses for the new colleges. There were around 161 colleges for general education with an overall enrolment of 151478 students manned by 5745 teachers by the end of 2020-21. With the onset of the National Education Policy (NEP-2020), the government made huge plans about improving higher education. It included making five autonomous degree-granting colleges into Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities, a sort of deemed universities. In fact, the government said three are already operating as autonomous colleges. There was a focus on skill and innovation.
Under NEP-2020, 30 colleges have been identified for the start of research and designated as Hub colleges. These are supposed to provide basic facilities of infrastructure and logistics to the rest of the colleges in their catchment.
On the ground, however, nothing much is visible. “How can these colleges become research centres, when prestigious colleges like Amar Singh College are yet to grant the right to its first and second-semester students to get into the library,” one student, speaking anonymously asked. “Students have been desperately seeking library cards but we are told the access to the library is permitted to higher semester students.”
The NAAC accreditation is the new mad race within colleges in which the assessment is mostly based on the infrastructure and the results – nobody is seeing, if at all, the students are taught in classrooms. Officials said 55 colleges in Jammu and Kashmir are NAAC accredited 17 more will be added to the list by December 2023. By 2025, 70 old colleges will be NAAC accredited.
Right now, most colleges are battling the faculty issue. This triggered a controversy when the management of a state-run women’s college in Baramulla asked the faculty from unrelated subjects to engage “classes of the departments (currently) without staff”.Teachers from Education, Physical Education, and Sports were asked to engage in the classes of Political Science; Chemistry faculty was assigned Public Administration; Botany teachers were supposed to engage in Economics; the Zoology department was given Social Work and Mathematics was to manage the Philosophy students.
This was the outcome of the higher education department not filling the vacancies on a temporary basis by the middle of March, almost a month after the colleges opened after the winter break. It created a sort of scandal and the college principal was asked to amend or withdraw the order. As it did not happen, the authorities issued a show cause notice. Insiders said the college asserted that the faults are at the policymaking level and not the college level.
A Generation Lost
For the last nearly two decades, the higher education department has been hiring teachers on an academic arrangement basis against a consolidated sum. They are disengaged every season. They lack any rights to leave, provident fund and other facilities that permanent faculty enjoy. Over the years they have been the main players in the higher education department.
“Every year, the government used to hire 800 to 1000 teachers on an academic arrangement basis,” Dr M Yousuf, one of the contractual lecturers said. “With the NEP, the requirement might have gone slightly up, maybe up to 1200.”
For a very long time, there was a rule in Jammu and Kashmir government that if somebody worked for the government for seven years, he or she has a right to be permanently hired. They had gone to court with the plea and secured an order directing authorities to ensure the people are not disturbed. So, every year, the government would hire them on priority. Post-2019, the government stopped extending this courtesy to them and instead started hiring new faces. Some of the contractual impacts by this decision in Jammu went to the supreme court and secured an order. Yousuf said while the order was implemented in Jammu, it was breached in Kashmir. Now, they have gone to CAT and are expecting a positive decision.
“This crisis ended up almost destroying their career of nearly 500 contractual teachers –mostly PhDs’, who served the department for 15 t 20 years and then the government stopped hiring them and they crossed the age bar,” Yousuf, one of these candidates, said. “Now we are no-bodies, we gave our entire life to these institutions and now we have nothing to do.”
Yousuf said the delay in hiring teachers on an academic arrangement basis is the main issue that is hitting the colleges right now. “There is a set norm for how many students a teacher must have but I know cases, where one teacher is assigned 600 students.”
Transportation Facilities
Teaching is just one part of the crisis. Students allege, there are other issues as well. Transportation is a key factor. Though almost every college has a transport facility, quite a few busses move out of the college.
“Some students in my college walk a distance of around 26 km to reach the college,” Adnan said. “Why we do not have the transport facility as other colleges have.”
In Government Degree College Kangan, the students have a similar complaint. “We have no transportation facility here, I mean that is basic,” one student said.
Various colleges have buses but lack the funds to hire a driver. In certain cases, they have drivers but not enough money to fuel the bus.
In the newly established Government Degree College Hajin, students allege the ground is in puddles, “Whenever it rains, the ground accumulates water and it becomes difficult to even walk through it let alone be any other thing,” Ahmad (name changed) who is currently enrolled in arts stream in the college said, “We don’t even have proper classrooms. In the main building only a few classes are taught, the rest of the classes are conducted in a hut which has a couple of rooms.” Besides, he said there is still an old building, which used to be a middle school in the past, on the ground there.
“Even if available, the washrooms are not located in proper settings,” he said.
Government Degree College Hajin is one of the 52 new colleges which were established in the year 2019.
City Colleges
Zubair (name changed) and his friends made a decision to get admitted to Amar Singh College, a prominent city college. As soon as he joined the first semester his perspective changed. A student in the second semester at present, Zubair had a list of issues to share, “You know there is no punctuality, I mean the classes are never conducted on time. The teachers are always late and never on time.”
Amar Singh College, Srinagar
The college, Zubair added, lacks hygiene, has dirty desks in classrooms, unclean washrooms and abundant stray dogs. This is in addition to the staff shortage. “We have been waiting since March for the teacher, as the contract of our previous teacher expired,” he said. The lack of mics in the classrooms is yet another concern for the students. “The classrooms are huge and the teachers are not audible to everybody in the class.”
The students said they have no access t the library. It has been done so easily. The college has not issued identity cards which are basic to entry into the library.
“This college has no proper gatekeeping and outsiders who are not even enrolled in our college get in and fight with the students of our college,” one female student said. “There is nobody who can check the people getting in.” Students confirmed the drug-peddling boys moving around.
Students of Women’s’ College Nawa Kadal alleged that the government is frequently shifting their principals. This, they said, is impacted the college.
In Women’s College MA Road, the students complained how the focus has been more on extra-curricular activities and not on education, “The classwork always suffers the most.”
Officials Admit
College managers and insiders admitted to the lot of issues they are facing. However, they insist they are not supposed to talk the way they used to talk earlier. Some of them agreed to talk in utmost anonymity.
“Yes, there is no college bus for students and the majority of the faculty positions are vacant except English and History,” echoing the thoughts of the students an official posted in Government Degree College, Tulail said. The official added that they have tried bringing it to the notice of authorities from time to time, “We had taken up the matter with our ex-principal secretary and he told that they were ready to sanction the college bus but it was not possible to engage any driver as there is a blanket ban on contractual or local fund recruitment.” He also lamented over the trend of teachers from Gurez and Tulail ensuring they are transferred to other places outside Gurez. “What can we expect from the teachers who are hired on a contractual basis.”
Most of the college managers approached to offer their side of the story but refused to talk. “Maybe next time,” one college principal said.
In the 40 years of its existence, the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), a deemed university, has emerged as a key research and healthcare facility for the well-being of people within and outside Kashmir. While the scope of improvements is vast, interventions in its autonomous character may neither go well with the society it serves nor the institution it has evolved into, reports Yawar Hussain
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on one of his initial visits to SKIMS after the institute started functioning. Sheikh was the Chief Minister.
For millions of people within and around Kashmir, the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) is the only go-to place for sickness. Over the last around 40 years, it has emerged as a major institution that apart from treating millions of people is a major address for research and medical education.
“The work done at SKIMS on viral hepatitis, iodine deficiency, and influenza is global in nature and some of the world-shaking treatments in gastrointestinal bleed and other things that started here are now in vogue the world over,” a senior doctor who has spent his entire career at SKIMS said. “Can you believe that one of our seniors has 72000 citations in his field?”
SKIMS has time-tested collaborations in research with some of the best health research institutions in the world. “The importance of the work done at SKIMS is acknowledged to the extent that SKIMS incumbent director is the vice chair of Middle-East and Africa Influenza Surveillance Network (MENA-ISN) despite the fact that it has nothing much to do with Jammu and Kashmir,” the doctor said.
On the patient care front, SKIMS, insiders say has many firsts in the region. “We have 500 transplants to our credit and we have started bone marrow transplant as well,” the doctor said. “Our only problem is that the brand that SKIMS has emerged into is triggering massive footfalls and we neither have a right nor an ethical ground to stop it. It sometimes leads to problems.”
The Genesis
For a political restart, it was a key confidence-building measure (CBM) After the release of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference’s founder and Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah from years of captivity and just ahead of the Indira Abdullah Accord on February 24, 1975, the Sher-i-Kashmir National Medical Institute Trust (SKNMIT) was floated on May 19, 1973 by some of his friends for setting up a hospital in Srinagar’s Soura, the ancestral residence of Kashmir’s towering leader.
SKIMS Launch: In sitting row are Late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Late Dr Ali Jan and Dr Ajit Kumar Nagpal (the first director of SKIMS)
The SKNMIT’s creation paved the way for the commissioning of the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) a decade later. However, the construction of the premier health facility was not as smooth as the dates suggest.
In 1972, Jammu and Kashmir’s Housing Department acquired land measuring about 1000 kanals at Zoonimar village for the construction of a housing colony. Alternatively, the Jammu and Kashmir government had also been working on a plan of building a 500-bedded hospital at Soura.
The ‘Court’ History
The details of the evolution of this super-speciality hospital are part of a 2004 judgement of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court delivered in a petition challenging the government’s 2003 decision of taking over the hospital. It said some friends and admirers of the late Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah had a meeting on November 21, 1972, in which they decided to set up a public charitable trust for the establishment of a Medical Institute at Srinagar.
In December 1972, Sheikh personally approached the Chief Minister, informing him that, on his birthday, some of his friends and admirers had presented to him a sum of Rs 1.5 lakh for instituting a benevolent trust and that the consensus was on building a hospital. He sought the cooperation of the State Government and requested for leasing out 230 kanals and 13 marlas of land situated to the West of Soura, acquired by the Government and the Government dispensary that existed at Soura, adjacent to the land in question, as also a contribution towards construction and maintenance of the hospital. Sheikh was made the lifetime Chairman of the Trust and Syed Mir Qasim, the then Chief Minister of the State, was one of the ten trustees.
The State Cancer Centre at SKIMS in Srinagar. KL Image: Masood Hussain
However, Dr Ajit Nagpal, the founder Director of SKIMS said that the idea was conceived by Sheikh Abdullah in 1976 so that the long-pending health needs of Kashmir are met, which got instant approval from Indira Gandhi. Gandhi is said to have been in the mood to reward the Sheikh for signing the accord.
“I was deputed as the Director, SKIMS, from the PGI, Chandigarh,” remembers Dr Nagpal. “Indira Gandhi got advisers from all over the country for establishing the institute and setting up state-of-the-art facilities there.”
One of the key officers involved in the making of the SKIMS was Narinder Nath Vohra, then a young civil servant, who later became Delhi’s Kashmir interlocutor from 2003 to 2008 and later the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir twice till 2018. He was handpicked for the project by Gandhi. He would often fly on weekends to oversee the implementation.
Following Shiekh’s request, the Qasim government through order No 872-HD of 1973 sanctioned the leasing out to the Trust of 292 kanals and 8 marlas of land comprising khasra Nos 415, 423, 424, 422, 5381/421, 5582/421, 425, 426, 429, 432, 430, 431, 433, 434, 416, 417, 418, 419, 437, 438, 411, 412, 413, 414, 388, 5379/390, 5380/390, 391, 392, 389, 394, 410, 405, 407, 408, 409/1, 409/2, 406, 398, 399 situated at Zoonimar for a period of 40 years at a consolidated rent of Rs 101 per annum.
“Earlier to that, vide Government order No 627-HD/G of 1973 sanction was accorded to transfer of Government Dispensary situated at Soura comprising main dispensary building, its kitchen block, chowkidar’s shed along with land underneath and appurtenant thereto, to the Trust,” the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s 2004 judgement has recorded.
However, the judgement mentions that no lease deed was executed between the government and the trust in 1973. In May 1974, the government through order no 232-MD/G of 1974 sanctioned allotment of another government property, namely, the Drug Research Laboratory situated at Moulana Azad Road, Srinagar, to the Trust on rent which was to be decided later.
In February of 1975, the SKNMIT Chairman, Sheikh took over as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Congressman Syed Mir Qasim, following the accord, stepped down and paved way for Sheikh’s takeover of the Congress majority house.
Immediately after, the High Court records that RK Sawhney, the then Secretary of the Trust, wrote to Sheikh on May 22, 1975, requesting him to amend Government Order No 872-HD of 1973 so that the trust can be made absolute owner of the 292 kanals and 8 marlas of the land at Zoonimar.
SKIMS Soura
Sheikh government sought the opinion of its law department, which highlighted that the land could only be transferred to the Trust if the Transfer of Property Act is amended. In follow-up, the Health Department processed a memorandum for the cabinet which was approved by the Cabinet on February 17, 1976. This paved the way for amendment of the Transfer of Property Act, Samvat 1977 on the proposed lines.
There were a lot of turns and twists. The court held that on August 27, 1976, the Sheikh government through order No 214-ME transferred Kashmir Nursing Home, Gupkar road, Srinagar along with its land, buildings and annexe and all its assets, including equipment, to the Trust on the condition that it shall use the premises solely and exclusively for maintaining a Nursing Home and shall provide adequate representation to the government on its Management Committee.
On August 5, 1977, Revenue Secretary was appointed as the coordinator on the land transfer case. The approved cabinet memorandum, however, said the properties to be transferred to the Trust would be a donation from the Jammu and Kashmir government. An order was issued in 1978. “Though there was no formal deed of transfer of the aforesaid properties to the Trust executed yet, the Trust got the aforesaid properties mutated in its name in the revenue records,” the High Court judgment recorded.
On January 18, 1977, the government renamed the 500-bedded hospital as Institute of Medical Sciences. It followed an agreement, the other day, which termed the SKIMS as a “joint venture”. The agreement laid down the constitution of an all-powerful Governing Body with the Chief Minister as Chairman; cabinet ministers as members; as the Trust nominated four members to the body.
The hospital started functioning in 1983. The 2004 judgement, however, said that the entire funds were mobilised by the government.
There were many players in establishing the SKIMS. One of them is a legend. Dr Ali Muhammad Jan. A household name, he turned down the post of Principal Government Medical College, Srinagar, and instead remained busy with the Trust of which he was Vice Chairman.
Launch and Growth
On December 5, 1982, the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science was formally inaugurated with an Outpatient Department and a 150-bed in-patient service.
This Institute soon started to flourish and the first batch of postgraduate students was enrolled in 1984 due to the hard work, grit and determination of its Director, Professor Anand. He retired in December 1985.
Dr Karan Singh being briefed about the construction of SKIMS when the multi floor structure was coming up.
Dr Nagpal, its founding Director said that Indira Gandhi in 1976, sent a team of 56 doctors outside Jammu and Kashmir to get trained in various specialities. “At the same time, Indira Gandhi got a group of reputed doctors from all over the country for heading faculties like neurosurgery, anaesthesia and cardiac surgery.”
Subsequently, the government relaxed norms for the Kashmir girls to undertake nursing courses. A scholarship of Rs 600 per month was offered to attract girls towards the nursing profession and strengthen medical assistance staff at the SKIMS.
“It was a Herculean task, but by the time we had the SKIMS building ready in 1982, the Board of Directors interviewed freshly trained doctors and inducted them into the staff,” said Dr Nagpal.
“I joined SKIMS on January 1, 1982. Back then, most of its faculty was from other states of India. I have been involved in establishing the first services at the hospital,” Dr M Sultan Khuroo, who eventually became the Director at the peak of militancy, said. He credits Dr Nagpal with building the institute structurally, and monetarily and envisioning it to be a tertiary care hospital. “Besides him, his successor, Dr BK Anand catapulted it to function as one of the best institutions in the country. There were 150 doctors under Anand.”
A Medical College
In 1989, the Jhelum Valley Medical College was started by the Trust as a private entity. However, in 1998, Farooq Abdullah-led government took over the college and named it as SKIMS Medical College, spread over around 400 kanals in Bemina.
“The trust started the hospital in 1993 but it did not pick up. The college had been running for seven years with three batches already graduating. The graduates of this college were unable to get any job or go for post-graduation pending the MCI recognition. To safeguard the interest of students the newly elected government of Dr Farooq Abdullah in a historic decision took over and attached this institute with the SKIMS Soura in 1998.”
An operation in progress. This is a well-equipped operation theatre of 1980s that is still n service.
The then Director SKIMS Soura, Dr Mehraj ud Din appointed Dr Yaqoob Khairadi as vice principal, which paved the way for the recruitment of faculty, nursing staff and other paramedical staff in various departments. Prof M Afzal Wani the next principal laid the foundation of new hostels and made policy decisions for the college.
Following the takeover by the government, the dysfunctional departments were streamlined and the plan was made to develop the whole campus on the requirement of a full-fledged Medical College based on MCI requirements.
Earlier on August 19, 1983, the government through an act of legislature had accorded the deemed university status to SKIMS.
“Its growth was swift. Till 1989 it grew much faster than any other health facility in India. We worked extraordinarily hard to make turn it into Deemed University. There were many medical procedures which set precedent in the institution itself,” Dr Khuroo said.
Tumultuous 1990s
In the tumultuous 1990s, the SKIMS played a crucial part in emerging as the last address for survival, especially for trauma patients. There were days when the bullet-hit or the splinter-splattered people would not get beds in the hospital and doctors had to work non-stop round the clock.
“During the 1990s, SKIMS doctors despite being ill-treated at their hospital by unwanted guests performed their duties with full dedication and sincerity,” the erstwhile adviser to Lt Governor, Farooq Khan told the gathering on SKIMS 37 Raising Day. He was a police officer heading the encounter-insurgency unit. “I personally know that during the turbulent ’90s, the institute (SKIMS) was affected very badly. Most of you who were there in the 90s may recall who used to run the institution. It was not the Director SKIMS. Some unwanted guests sitting in one of your rooms used to virtually run the show…SKIMS professionals were maltreated, they were harassed, but they continued to perform their duties. That tells you about fabulous work their teachers have done, who had trained them.”
Dr Khuroo said that unfortunately, after the 1990s the faculty plummeted from 250 to less than 60 as many migrated. “At times it plummeted to 40.”
To cater to footfall with fewer human resources, according to Khuroo, they had to get people vertically within the state at a fast pace as it was an urgent need.
“We could not repair equipment as people were unwilling to come to Kashmir and even buy new ones. We were badly affected due to it,” he said.
During his tenure as Director SKIMS, times were hard. “The local faculty kept the institutions functional along with thousands of employees. Many people including myself had to migrate in 1996 besides Pandits due to deteriorating security conditions. The local young faculty kept it functioning.”
The 1990s meant trouble from various quarters for the doctors and paramedical staff. Many times, SKIMS employees had to reach the hospital in the night hours amid curfews in place.
“During the early 1990s, being involved with tertiary care meant a call at any time of the hour. There were times when I left home early in the morning and come late. The security officials along the route would threaten me with a gun pointed towards me till I showed my identity card,” a senior SKIMS doctor wishing anonymity said. “During that era, the infrastructure became dilapidated, however, the government chipped in. We kept the ship sailing and prevented it from sinking.
In the early 2000s, the Mufti Sayeed-led coalition government took over the affairs of the hospital after rescinding the government orders from the 1970s.
The decision was challenged in the court but the judiciary sided with the government. A few patches of land initially granted by some members of the Abdullah family had been compensated while they had turned the Drug Research Laboratory at Maulana Azad Road into the Ali Jan Shopping Complex. The Court said the Trust’s desire to lease out the Kashmir Nursing Home to a third party had led to the Mufti government’s rescinding of the series of 1970s government orders.
Present Status
In July 2022, the government reconstituted SKIMS Governing Body with Lt Governor as chairman. The other members of the body include his Advisor(s) the Chief Secretary, the Union Health Secretary, the Secretary, the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology Government of India; the Director, AIIMS New Delhi (or one of his Deans in the absence of Director, AIIMS); Principal, Government Medical College Srinagar; Principal, Government Medical College Jammu and Principal SKIMS Medical College Bemina as its members.
Currently, SKIMS is manned by 5000 odd employees and incorporates more than 50 departments. The medical faculty of each department consists of Professors, Additional Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, and Senior and Junior residents where the senior-most professor functions as the head. The hospital is catering to 20,000 patients in 24 hours. Currently, the institute has 1200 odd-bed capacity with a requirement of 1000 beds still felt to cater to patient demand.
SKIMS, a deemed university offers post-doc degrees including Doctorate in Medicine (DM) courses; Magister Chirurgia courses; Doctorate of National Board courses; Doctor of Philosophy courses. At the PG level, the SKIMS offers Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Surgery (MS) courses in all the major medical departments. Besides, the institute offers Master of Science courses as well as Bachelor of Science courses. At the undergraduate medical courses level, the SKIMS offers MBBS; MSc Nursing and BSc Nursing courses.
In 1988, the Journal of Medical Sciences (JMS) was started by SKIMS, which publishes in all categories of medical research work, together with invited articles/editorials from the doyens in varied specialities (native and abroad).
A former SKIMS Director, wishing anonymity said during his tenure he never had to deal with any of the Chief Ministers but only with the governors. “To me personally, the stripping of autonomy will not impact its functionality as the institute itself is a force to reckon with,” he said.
Recently when the LG administration asked the SKIMS to route its files through the health department, it was angrily reacted from various sides. “SKIMS should be a college now. That is what is happening to everything in Kashmir. First the university’s academic independence and now this institute,” former minister Naeem Akhter said. “The roller is on. They are trying to have a bonsai garden and reduce people to Lilliput size. It was a deemed university with autonomy.”
The Director, according to Akhtar, never reported to Health Department in the past as it had direct contact with the Chief Minister. Off late, the SKIMS Raising Day on December 5, has been a lacklustre event.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Dr AK Mehta formally inaugurated the SKIMS Cath lab on February 11, 2023.Pic: SKIMS
Even the veterans who have served the institution for their entire life are concerned. “Once the autonomy goes, the SKIMS will be reduced to a medical facility,” Dr Shikeh Aijaz Ahmad, former head of the oncology department said. “While we expect that the institution must grow, I am unable to understand why there are efforts to undo a medical university.
Insiders, however, said the situation on the ground has not changed. “It was way back in 1997 when SKIMS was tagged with health and medical education,” one insider in the government said. “However, it did not impact the status of the Director who remained ex-officio secretary to the government. It has not even changed now even though there were at least instances in the recent past when the ex-officio secretary status was stripped from the director.” If these insiders are to be believed then the files are still directly submitted to the Chief Secretary and not routed through Secretary of Health.
The Research Side
What makes the SKIMS different is that a lot research is also transacted while treating the patients. In 2020, when Stanford University came out with its list of the world’s top two per cent scientists, there were four Kashmiris – among whom, two were from SKIMS – gastroenterologist Dr Khuroo, and pulmonologist Dr Parvaiz A Koul – one a former director and another, the incumbent director.
In 2015, Dr Sameer Naqash, prominent Surgeon head of the upper GI Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic surgery unit at SKIMS was invited as a guest speaker at Prestigious International Gastric Cancer Congress, the highest international forum on gastric cancer in the world, which was held in Verona, Italy.
In January 2022, Hyder Mir, Scientist ‘C’ while working on Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network at SKIMS bagged the 2021 first MENA-ISN Research Award for his paper.
Dr Manijha Yaqoob, a Physician Scientist at Roche USA, started her successful medical professional from SKIMS.
“There are countless instances of SKIMS doctors making small or major intervention that is part of medical practices,” one doctor said. For commoners in Kashmir, however, it is the last address for a healthy survival or a dignified death. A general belief on the ground is that disturbing the autonomy of a major health facility is not a good idea.
Performing many firsts in the medical field in Jammu and Kashmir, the SKIMS is faced with two All India Institute of Medical Science facilities coming up, one each, in Jammu and Kashmir divisions. Would the clipped autonomy help SKIMS sustain its numero uno status or not, only time would tell.
Nirmala Sitharaman’s fourth consecutive budget has reduced funds for developmental activities as expenditure booked for asset creation in 2022-23 saw a steep fall, reports Raashid Andrabi
Nirmala Sitharaman
Last week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented Jammu and Kashmir’s fourth consecutive budget, for fiscal 2023-24. At Rs 118,500 crore, it is said to be the highest-ever budget estimate to have been presented for the next 365 days for Jammu and Kashmir, ending March 31, 2024.
Money Goes
The government is anticipated to spend Rs 33530 crore on salaries, Rs 12525 on pensions to the superannuating staff and Rs 8641 will go to “other” heads that are part of the primary revenue expenditure. That means 38.86 per cent of the total budget will go to the staff that man the government. Against booking an expenditure of Rs 44718 crore in 2022-23, the government would spend Rs 46055 crore on the salary and pension of its staff in 2023-24.
The government will purchase power worth Rs 3040 crore in fiscal 2023-24. Off late, the government has reduced funds for power purchases. In 2022-23, the resource allocated for power purchases for water-abundant and energy deficit was at Rs 5000 crore. However, the revised estimates suggest only Rs 3074 crore was spent.
The government is anticipated to pay Rs 9635 crore as interest payment – almost eight per cent of the overall expenditure. For the current fiscal the interest payments are at Rs 9076 crore. Besides, the government will clear debts – part of the capital expenditure, worth Rs 8099 crore. For 2022-23, the target was to repay Rs 3521 crore but the administration eventually paid back Rs 5030 crore.
Table 1 Revenue – Income and Expenditure 2023-23. These figures are part of the budget documents that FM Nirmala Sitharaman placed on the table in Lok Sabha in March 2023.
Developmental Activities
The developmental activities are allocated Rs 33,193 crore, including Rs 17,961 crore under PMDP and Rs 15,232 crore under CSS. Jammu and Kashmir will offer a mandatory contribution of Rs 3654 crore as its share to access CSS funds. This means 28.01 per cent of the overall spending stands allocated to developmental activities. It is Rs 4312 crore lesser than the allocations that had been made for developmental activities for 2022-23.
In fiscal 2022-23, Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget had allocated Rs 37505 crore (33.2 per cent of the overall expenditure) for developmental activities of which Rs 19074 crore was under PMDP and other allied projects and Rs 18431 crore of centrally sponsored schemes. However, the revised estimates laid on the table in Lok Sabha suggest an expenditure of only Rs 26537 crore (24.84 per cent) was booked, which is Rs 10968 crore less.
No details have been offered in the budget for the reduced allocations for developmental activities and the administration’s failure in spending the entire developmental allocation made for fiscal 2022-23.
The Income
On the income side, the centre will provide grants worth Rs 64,319 crore. Since Jammu and Kashmir is no longer a state and is reduced to a Union territory, the share from the central tax pool is now being converted into an outright grant.
Jammu and Kashmir has its own resources as well. It will be raising a tax revenue of Rs 20349 crore and non-tax (mostly services) of Rs 13,593 crore. That means that Jammu and Kashmir will raise almost Rs 33942 crore within the UT, which is 28.64 per cent of the overall fund requirement for fiscal 2023-34.
Table II Capital Expenditure 2023-24. These figures are part of the budget documents that FM Nirmala Sitharaman placed on the table in Lok Sabha in March 2023.
The budget indicates that Jammu and Kashmir will have additional resource mobilization of Rs 7,800 crore, which includes asset monetization. Besides, Jammu and Kashmir will borrow Rs 12439 crore from the market and within the system to fund the budget.
In fiscal 2022-23, the budget estimates had anticipated receiving Rs 34116 crore from its own resource – tax plus non-tax. However, it ended up collecting only Rs 28012 crore. Though all tax collections were achieved, the shortfall was in power tariff collections (got Rs 4609 instead of Rs 5000 crore) and additional resource mobilisation. Against a target of Rs 8802 crore for ARM, Jammu and Kashmir could mobilise a resource of only Rs 2484 crore.
The Speech
Sitharaman’s speech indicated that several objectives are laid out, including good governance, democracy at the grassroots level, sustainable agriculture, investment and industrial growth, employment generation, development acceleration, inclusivity, women empowerment, and social inclusion. It suggested that the government intends to double Jammu and Kashmir’s GDP within the next five years. It put the current GDP at Rs 2,30,727 crore
Sitharaman promised that all 18.36 lakh households in Jammu and Kashmir will have functional tap connections by 2023-24. Every household will be provided drinking water with a minimum of 55 litres per capita per day and of prescribed quality on a regular, long-term, and sustainable basis.
Agriculture and horticulture have been allocated Rs 2,526.74 crore, health and medical education have been allocated Rs 2,097.53 crore, rural development got Rs 4,169.26 crore, the power sector was given Rs 1,964.90 crore, Jal Shakti has been allocated Rs 7,161 crore, housing and urban development got Rs 2,928.04 crore, education has been allocated Rs 1,521.87 crore, and construction of roads and bridges has been allocated Rs 4,062.87 crore.
The debt position of Jammu and Kashmir. These figures are part of the budget documents that FM Nirmala Sitharaman placed on the table in Lok Sabha in March 2023.
Responses
The budget estimates generated a mixed response from the political and business classes. The ruling BJP commended the budget for its efforts to promote economic growth and development, but others disagreed.
The National Conference (NC) has been vocal in its criticism of the budget, referring to it as mere “flamboyance and wordplay” with no real substance for trade, industry, and commerce. They have expressed disappointment at the lack of a clear blueprint for job creation and the lack of focus on the horticulture sector, which is a significant contributor to the region’s economy. They also raised concerns about the plight of unemployed youth and the need-based employees who were not given much consideration in the budget. They further questioned why the elected Assembly was not consulted before the budget’s tabling for the fifth time in a row.
Comrade Yousuf Tarigami, a long-term lawmaker expressed his disappointment stating the budget failed to address critical issues such as unemployment and inflation, which continue to plague the region. He believes that the budget should have had more concrete plans to create employment opportunities and reduce the rising inflation rate, which has been a significant concern for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He has criticized the government for not taking these issues seriously and ignoring the urgent need to address them in the budget.
On the other hand, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has praised the budget, hailing it as “development-oriented” and a significant step towards realizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of establishing peace and progress in the region. They believe that the budget’s provisions will facilitate the ongoing development of the Union Territory and bring about a positive change in the lives of its residents.
SRINAGAR: Presenting her fourth consecutive budget estimates for federally ruled Jammu and Kashmir, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Union territory will spend Rs 118500 crore in fiscal 2023-24. The estimates were presented in the Lok Sabha on March 13, 2014.
Nirmala Sitharaman
The budget has put the funds for developmental activity slightly lesser than the estimates of the current fiscal. The capital expenditure stands at Rs 41491 crore. For fiscal 2022-23 – end on March 31, 2023, the overall developmental budget was put at Rs 41335 crore. However, the documents laid on the table put the revised estimates of the capital expenditure at Rs 31785 crore only indicating a failure in spending Rs 10,550 crore.
The budget estimates suggest that Rs 33530 crore will go as salaries, Rs 11563 as pension to the superannuating staff and Rs 8641 were g to “other” heads that are part of the primary revenue expenditure. That means 38.86 per cent of the total budget will go to the staff that man the government. Against booking an expenditure of Rs 44718 crore in 2022-23, the government would spend Rs 46055 crore on salary and pension of its staff in 2023-24.
JK Budget 2023-24: Read FM Nirmala Sitharaman Speech
The other key committed expenditures include Rs 9635 crore as interest payment – almost eight per cent of the overall expenditure. For the current fiscal the interest payments are at Rs 9076 crore.
For debt repayments – part of the capital expenditure, the budget has set aside a resource of Rs 8099 crore. For 2022-23, the target was to repay Rs 3521 crore but the administration eventually paid back Rs 5030 crore.
Interestingly, the budget has reduced the resource allocation for power purchases during 2023-24. It stands at Rs 3040 crore. In her last budget estimates, the resource allocated for power purchase for water-abundant and energy deficit Jammu and Kashmir at Rs 5000 crore. However, the revised estimates suggest only Rs 3074 crore was spent.
The capital expenditure of a territory – state or UT – includes all resources that go into the repayment of debts, advances and loans and the developmental activities. Off late, Jammu and Kashmir’s developmental budget comprises of two major components – the central sponsored schemes and the Prime Minister’s Development Programme (PMDP) plus certain special projects that the administration intends to implement. For 2023-24, the overall funds allocated for developmental activities are Rs 33184 crore, which includes Rs 17961 crores under PMDP and Rs 15223 crore under CSS. The Jammu and Kashmir will offer a mandatory contribution of Rs 3654 crore as its share to access CSS funds.
In fiscal 2022-23, Nirmala Sitharaman budget had allocated Rs 37505 crore for developmental activities of which Rs 19074 crore was under PMDP and other allied projects and Rs 18431 crore of central sponsored schemes. However, the revised estimates laid on the table in Lok Sabha suggest an expenditure of only Rs 26537 crore has been booked, which is Rs 10968 crore less. Was it for the lack of resources or Jammu and Kashmir’s sudden lack of capacity to spend remains unknown.
In the 2023-24 budget, 28 per cent (Rs 33184 crore) would go to pure developmental activities. It was supposed to be 33.2 per cent (Rs 37505 crore) as per the 2022-23 budget. However, the revised estimates suggest only Rs 26537 crore were booked for pure developmental activities, making it 24.84 per cent of the overall expenditure for the current fiscal.
On the income side, Rs 64319 crore (32 per cent) will come from the centre as grants (UTs are not entitled to have a share in the central tax collections so the matching funds are converted into grants), Rs 13174 crore is the tentative GST collection, Rs 1800 crore is the Sales Tax, Rs 2450 crore is the anticipated excise duty and another Rs 2925 crore will come from other taxable sources. The non-tax incomes have been estimated to be Rs 13593 crore of which Rs 6000 crore is expected to be the power tariff. The budget suggested Jammu and Kashmir will have additional resource mobilisation of Rs 7800 crore in the next fiscal. It includes many items including asset monetisation.
In fiscal 2022-23, the budget estimates had anticipated receiving 34116 crore from its own resource – tax plus non-tax. However, it ended up receiving only Rs 28012 crore. Though the all tax collections were achieved, the shortfall was in power tariff collections (got Rs 4609 instead of Rs 5000 crore) and additional resource mobilisation – it has project raising Rs 8802 crore but actually manage only Rs 2484 crore, according to revised estimates put in the budget papers. In the current fiscal, the Jammu and Kashmir government saved on power purchase – spent only Rs 3074 crore against a target of Rs 5000 crore and paid more interest (on debts) which was estimated to be Rs 7427 crore but ended up at Rs 9076 crore.
In the current fiscal ending March 31, 2022, the budget details said the overall expenditure booked by Jammu and Kashmir was at Rs 102445 crore of which 35208 crore went to capital expenditure, asset creation and interest payments.
Offering an idea about the overall income for funding the budget, the official budget documents suggest that 32 per cent will come as entitled central grants: 10 per cent is borrowing (debts), seven per cent is the PMDP fund; 16 per cent will be the central sponsored scheme funds; 17 per cent is Jammu and Kashmir’s own tax revenue; 11 per cent is Jammu and Kashmir’s own non-tax revenue and the balance seven per cent will be the additional resource mobilisation.
By the end of 2021-22, the total liabilities stand at Rs 101462 crore, which is almost 52 per cent of Jamu and Kashmir’s SGDP of Rs 195118 (on 2011-12 base at current prices). The budget plans to raise loans (capital receipts) of Rs 12439 crore, which includes Rs 1505 crore of negotiated loans, Rs 10128 crore of market borrowings.
SRINAGAR: Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Jammu and Kashmir budget in the Lok Sabha on March 13, 2023. It was her fourth consecutive budget estimate that she presented in the parliament after Jammu and Kashmir was sliced into two federally governed Union Territories.
Here is the full text of the speech Ms Sitharaman made:
Nirmala Sitharaman
Mr Speaker Sir,
The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed unprecedented level of development in various sectors since historic changes in August 2019. The people of Jammu and Kashmir not only welcomed but have embraced these changes with open heart. The law and order situation has improved appreciably. Pace of development in all critical sectors such as power, tourism, road connectivity, urban sector, health, sports, water and rural development etc., is remarkable.
Jammu and Kashmir has entered the Amrit Kaal with the aim of a fear-free, corruption-free, drug-free and employment-rich Jammu and Kashmir inspired by Panch Pran i.e Goal of developed India, Remove any trace of colonial mindset, Take pride in our roots, Unity and Sense of duty among the citizens.
The Jammu and Kashmir has been among top performers in the country for implementation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Amrit Sarovar, SVAMITVA Scheme, Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Nasha Mukt Abhiyan and Renewable Energy Development. Besides, Jammu and Kashmir is among top performers in Agriculture Income, Ease of Living, Ease of Doing Business, Transparency, Sustainable Development Goals and One Nation One Ration Card.
Jammu and Kashmir leads the nation under various health parameters like Neo-natal Mortality Rate, Infant Mortality Rate, Sex ratio at birth, Institutional births and percentage of fully immunized children.
Jammu and Kashmir has achieved 100 per cent saturation in schemes like Saubhagya, Ujjwala, Ujala, Old Age/Widow and Disability Pension Scheme, SC/ST/Minority, Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship Schemes, Poshan Tracker, Poshan Vatikas, Prime Minister’s Matru Vandana Yojana, Kisan Credit Card Scheme, Swachh Bharat Mission, Drinking Water, Play field and Youth Clubs, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, Soil Health Card and Public Distribution System. Besides, under JJM, 99.94 per cent population has been provided with piped water and 57.84 per cent individual households have tap connections. Under LPG-DBT (PAHAL) 31.77 lakh beneficiaries have been covered. Milk production has reached highest ever 2594 Thousand Metric Tons.
Under the initiative My Youth My Pride, Har Din Khel Har Ek Kay Liye Khel nearly 50 lakh youth have participated in different sports activities. National events in the disciplines of chess, rowing, table tennis, pencaksilat, wushu, volleyball and badminton have been conducted in Jammu and Kashmir wherein athletes from all over the country participated. National winter games under Khelo India have been hosted at Gulmarg in which athletes from across the country participated with great fervour.
Transforming Governance
a) Jammu & Kashmir Government has made concerted efforts to introduce multitude of reforms like establishment of grassroot level democracy, creation of knowledge society and expansion of digital and physical connectivity.
b) More than 445 services are now being provided in online mode in Jammu and Kashmir. Offline services have been completely stopped thus ushering a new digital era in Jammu and Kashmir. e-UNNAT Portal has been developed which is the single platform portal to make all government services available for the citizens. Rapid Assessment System (RAS) enabling real time feedback on quality of service delivery has been developed and 225 e-Services have been integrated through this system. The system provides direct feedback from people and nearly 85 per cent respondents rated the services as good and 7 per cent as satisfactory. One of the appreciable step taken by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir is that all the online services are now being linked with Public Service Guarantee Act, bringing in huge transparency and accountability. The Jammu and Kashmir Government is promoting the idea of digital Jammu and Kashmir for “Ease of Living”. Transparency, accountability and timeliness have become hallmark of governance in Jammu and Kashmir.
c) The exceptional level of transparency and accountability in execution of development works is amplified through facts such as no work is being allotted without e-tendering, Administrative Approval and Technical Sanction. No payment is made without geo-tagged photographs uploaded through Photographic Record of On-site Facility (PROOF) mobile application and 100% physical verification of works. To ensure citizen participation, all the developmental works are put in public domain on real-time basis on the EMPOWERMENT/ JANBHAGIDARI portal. More than 78,811 works are being reflected on the portal for public viewing. Anyone can access these from anywhere anytime on a mobile.
d) Land records have been completely digitized and made available on Aapki Zameen Aapki Nigrani portal in the shape of scanned data of Jamabandi, Girdawari, Mutation and Mussavi of all the 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir for free access to the citizens. More than 8 crore documents of land records have been scanned and hosted on Aap ki Zameen Aap Ki Nigrani portal. Trilingual Land passbooks in Urdu, Hindi and English are being issued to landholders. Around 30 Lakh pass books have been issued and 67 lakh persons have visited the site. As a major step, change of land use has been brought under the purview of Public Service Guarantee Act. Jammu and Kashmir has become first Union Territory to distribute property cards in Abadi Deh areas under SVAMITVA scheme.
e) The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is the first among States/Union Territories to have District Good Governance Index for assessing the public service delivery at district level. Two reports have been brought out so far.
f) Two new unique initiatives Aspirational Panchayat Development Programme with an objective to provide financial assistance of Rs 10.00 Lakh to selected 285 Panchayats (one Panchayat per Block) for their holistic development and “Aspirational Towns Development Programme” for holistic development of selected Aspirational Towns has been launched during 2022-23. A Panchayat Development Index and Town Development Index have also been developed to measure the progress.
g) As a part of Aspirational Panchayat Development Programme, the fourth phase of “Back to Village” (B2V4) programme was conducted across the Union territory from 15th of October to 3rd of November, 2022. During the fourth phase of Back to Village programme, 4290 officers visited the designated Panchayats as Prabhari Officers with the core objectives of energizing Panchayati Raj Institutions and inculcating the efficiency in delivery mechanism related to various government schemes. More than 8.20 lakh people participated in B2V4 programme. 5914 Kisan Credit Cards were issued during Jan Abhiyan of B2V4, with total of 12,84,058 KCCs issued so far. 37,930 persons were covered under self-employment drive in the Panchayats, 100 per cent data of Ration Card Holders on e-PDS portal have been shifted to Ration Card Management System portal; 95,959 golden cards were issued covering 49526 new families; 3,573 water quality field testing kits were distributed in the Panchayats; 75,759 e-challan have been issued by Mining Department, 8.89 lakh persons accessed Apki Zamin Apki Nigrani Portal and 7.04 lakh land passbooks were issued by the Revenue Department.
h) As a part of Aspirational Town Development Programme, 100 officers visited the Urban Local Bodies (Municipal Corporations/ Municipal Councils/Municipal Committees) during the 2nd phase of My Town My Pride 2.0 Programme. The major focus was on the municipal finances and preparation of city specific plans to enable our towns and cities embark upon the journey of becoming Aspirational Towns. 4.49 Lakh people participated in this programme. 1,33,524 households were covered for door to door awareness drive under ban on single use plastic, 2,740 Street vendor licenses were issued and 5,002 individuals were covered under self-employment drive in the Urban Local Bodies. 38,973 golden cards were issued, 508 city plans were prepared; 53,923 Land Passbooks were issued and 2,649 inheritance mutation were done.
i) As a part of outreach programme, 34 Hon’ble Union Minister’s from various Ministries of Government of India visited in 17 districts of Jammu and Kashmir in 2022 for public interaction and gathering grass-root level feed-back on government policies. Interactions were held with representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions, other important stakeholders from trade, industry etc; which is expected to improve governance and implementation of various developmental schemes and initiatives in Jammu and Kashmir.
j) Aspirational Block Development Programme has also been initiated for upliftment of backward blocks and Rs 44 crore with Rs 1 crore per block have been provided
k) Jammu and Kashmir is 1st amongst Union territories to fully implement e-office in 300+ offices with highest 97 % disposal rate. The practice of Darbar Move has ended.
l) e-GRAS has been launched to facilitate payment of taxes and user charges electronically without visiting to the treasuries and banks. The portals of revenue collecting departments are in the process of integration with e-GRAS system.
m) Jammu and Kashmir is the first Union Territory to launch online e- Audit Application for conduct of statutory audit of departments. The e-Audit Portal is an integrated single platform tool for access of financial information of departments through BEAMS/JKPAYSYS on real time basis.
n) Government of Jammu and Kashmir has introduced E-HRMS, a unified dashboard, wherein vital service related details like appointment, postings, promotions, monthly salary slips, income tax deductions and provident fund can be accessed. More than 3.65 lakh employees have been registered on this portal which has improved transparency in maintaining the service records of the employees. An online portal for filing the Property Return Statement for employees has been developed. Around 3.50 lakh employees have filed their property returns through this online portal.
o) Social Security schemes and other flagship beneficiary schemes will be saturated for Kashmiri Migrants under special Lieutenant Governor’s Camps. Under Jan Abhiyan such special Lieutenant Governor’s camps are being held at different locations for enrolment of Kashmiri Migrants under various beneficiary oriented schemes. Further providing of security to Kashmiri Migrant Employees is the prime concern of the Government and to address the same, all the migrant employees have been suitability posted at secured places.
Accelerating Development
(a) Against 9229 works/projects under various sectors/ schemes completed in 2018-19, 12637 works / projects were completed in 2019-20. 21943 works/projects have been completed in 2020-21. During the financial year 2021-22; 50,627 works/ projects under different sectors/ schemes have been completed. This shows that the pace of development has increased manifolds and during current financial year 2022-23 around 70,000 works/projects are likely to be completed.
(b) The pace of execution of projects under Prime Ministers Development Package (PMDP) has been accelerated. Expenditure has reached to Rs 39133 crore. 29 Projects have been completed / substantially completed and another 03 projects are likely to be completed by end of the current financial year.
(c) Government of Jammu and Kashmir is taking concerted efforts to accelerate the pace of development. The road connectivity is extremely essential for the development of any region. I must inform this August House that till the year 2018, on an average, 1500 to 1600 Km of road length used to be constructed each year in Jammu & Kashmir. The same has now more than doubled to 3200 kilometres. Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir is macadamizing more than 12 Km road length every day. Jammu and Kashmir is marching ahead with its ambition of road to every village.
(d) 8.45 Km Qazigund-Banihal Tunnel at a cost of Rs 3,117 crore has been completed, which has now reduced travel time between Srinagar and Jammu from 10 hours to 5 hours.
(e) Kashmir is likely to be connected to rest of the country through rail network by the end of the year 2023.
(f) Road infrastructure by way of construction of mega highways and tunnel projects is in progress. A number of highway projects are presently under execution. Work on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway is being completed in next 2-3 years bringing much respite for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
(g) The work on 6.5 Km Z-Morh Tunnel on Srinagar- Sonamarg Road is going on at the brisk pace and will be completed during the current financial year at a cost of Rs. 2,378 crore, which will provide an opportunity for tourists to visit the beautiful place of Sonamarg in winter as well.
(h) The construction of 135 Km stretch of six-lane Delhi-Amritsar Katra Expressway falling in Jammu & Kashmir has commenced. This will reduce the travel time to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine to 6 hours only.
(i) Construction of 14.15 km two-lane bi-directional Zojila Tunnel with 14.20 km parallel escape tunnel is in progress.
(j) Construction of 4 tunnels (4.85 Km) on Akhnoor-Poonch section of NH 144A is in progress.
(k) Construction of double laning of 35.38 Km on Akhnoor-Poonch road (NH-144A) is in progress.
(l) The expansion of Jammu and Srinagar Airports is under progress.
(m) Construction work of AIIMS at Vijaypur, Jammu and AIIMS at Awantipora, Kashmir is proceeding at a fast pace.
(n) 07 New Government Medical Colleges are being established and 15 Nursing Colleges will be made operational.
(o) Two State Cancer Institutes will be made fully functional. Rs 881 crore are being spent on rebuilding/upgrading of 140 health institutions to be completed during this year.
(p) Intake capacity of MBBS has increased from 500 to 1100 seats and PG seats from 513 to 593.
(q) Under Jammu & Kashmir “SEHAT” health insurance scheme, in convergence with Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the registration of beneficiaries has reached to 83.97 percent.
(r) Power Generation capacity will be doubled in 3 years. In last 2 years alone, projects of more than 3000 MW capacity have been revived and put on track. Work on 1000 MW Pakal Dul and 624 MW Kiru is in full swing. 850 MW Ratle has been awarded. Pre- construction activities have been initiated for 1856 MW Sawalkote project by NHPC.
(s) Indian Institute of Technology, Jammu is functioning from its own campus and Indian Institute of Management, Jammu to move to its campus this year.
(t) 213 projects with a financial assistance of 250 Million USD from World Bank were under taken by Jehlum Tawi Flood Recovery Project Organization. 159 projects have been already completed and 54 projects are in the advanced stage of execution.
(u) Under initiative of “Har Gaon Ek Amrit Sarovar” 4041 Amrit Sarovars have been identified, out of which 2420 have been completed and remaining will be completed before 15th of August 2023.
(v) In preparation for G20 summit meetings, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir will undertake development of key infrastructure projects under road, urban and tourism sectors.
(w) A special programme is being launched during 2023-24 for implementation of all components of action plan of two National Conferences of Chief Secretaries.
Industrial Development
(a) The focus of the Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Policy 2021-30 is to attract new investment, creation of employment opportunities for youth, development of backward regions and nurturing of existing industrial units. As a first step, Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Land Allotment Policy 2021-30, Jammu and Kashmir Private Industrial Estate Development Policy 2021-30, Jammu and Kashmir Wool Processing, Handicrafts and Handloom Policy 2020, have been notified.
(b) Credit Card Scheme for Artisans and Weavers is being implemented with interest subvention of 7 per cent.
(c) Karkhandar Scheme announced last year is being implemented to provide fresh impetus to the craft industry.
(d) Steps are being taken to promote Industrial Development and investment proposal worth Rs. 64,058 crore have been received involving land bank of 47,092 kanals thereby having a potential to generate employment for 2,93,689 youth.
(e) During 2022-23, till January, 2023 an investment of Rs 1547.87 crore has been received. The investment during the last 10 months of current financial year is highest ever compared to any previous financial years.
(f) In the last three years, 500 start ups have come up which have ushered a new social revolution.
(g) Government is committed to provide training, design, technology inputs like GI tag and such other infrastructural support as are required for quality, branding and boosting global demand for handicraft products of Jammu and Kashmir.
Employment
(a) Largest ever recruitment drive has been initiated in Jammu and Kashmir. 100 per cent recruitment is based on Merit. Totally fair, transparent, and fast-track process is adopted for recruitment. Interviews upto Pay Level – 5 have been dispensed.
(b) 33426 Posts have been referred to recruiting agencies, against which 25450 selections have been made including 2436 selections of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited. Remaining are under process for fast track recruitment.
(c) Employment generation is also encouraged through a number of self- employment schemes like Mumkin and Tejaswani under Mission Youth, Rural Livelihood Mission, Himayat, Prime Ministers Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), J&K Rural Employment Generation Programme (J&KREGP), J&K Urban Employment Generation Programme (J&KUEGP), Women Entrepreneurship Programme, AVSAR etc. 2,02,749 youth have been covered under various self- employment schemes in 2022-23 and target is to cover 2,37,000 youth by end of March, 2023.
(d) Jammu and Kashmir has correspondingly higher labour force participation which is more than the national average. The wage employment has been almost saturated.
State of Economy
Despite odds, Jammu and Kashmir has sustained the pace of development and expeditiously managed the expenditure both under revenue and development side. The overall GSDP growth during financial year 2021-22 has been 14.64 per cent (1st Revised) as compared to financial year 2020-21. The sectoral breakup shows resilience in the economy.
The economy is on right track and government is focusing on equitable growth in all the sectors of the economy. The economy is expected to grow at 10% and there has been significant growth in collections under GST, Excise and Stamp Duty. The GST collection is Rs 6666.04 crore upto February, 2023; which has shown a growth of 14.64 percent over the same period of previous financial year 2021-22. The MST collection is Rs. 1444.45 crore upto ending February, 2023. The stamp collection is Rs. 438.88 crore upto February, 2023 against Rs 401.44 crore during the last financial year 2021-22; showing a growth of 9.33 percent. The excise collection has been Rs 1658.35 crore upto ending February, 2023 during current financial year 2022-23 against 1443.07 crore in the same period during the last financial year 2021-22; registering a growth of 14.92 %. The overall tax collection has shown significant growth and resilience.
This season we have also seen a good flow of tourist and over 1.88 core tourists visited Jammu and Kashmir during previous year upto December, 2022. Out of this 26.73 lakh tourists visited Kashmir which is more than double than the previous highest of 12.99 lakh in the year 2016. For the first time, the world famous Gulmarg Gondola has realized revenue of about Rs. 100 crore.
Exports of dry & fresh fruits is picking up and by end of February, 2023 about 18.15 lakh metric tons have been exported.
Financial Inclusion
(a) Under Atma Nirbar Bharat Abhiyan, 65,907 borrowers have been benefitted under Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line GECL (1.0, 2.0 & 3.0) involving Rs 2488.04 crore and free rice was provided to 16,49,706 families and pulses to 16,97,820 families. Special credit facility for street vendors with an initial working capital of Rs 10000, Rs 20000 & Rs 50000 has been disbursed to 20,596 beneficiaries under PM-SVANidhi Scheme. Rs 5794.12 crore credit has has been provided to 7,86,077 KCC (Crop) account holders and Rs 825.86 crore to 1,54,604 KCC-Animal Husbandry and Fisheries (AH&F) account holders. Rs 5251.22 crore under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna (PMMY), loan has been disbursed to 2,42,828 beneficiaries.
(b) Over 50,000 units have been set up with credit of around Rs 1,018 crore from banks, providing employment to nearly 75,000 youth identified during fourth phase of “Back to Village Programme” and second phase of “My Town My Pride Programme”.
Direct Benefit Transfers
(a) All the individual beneficiary schemes have been almost saturated and we are committed to achieve 100 per cent saturation in respect of these schemes along with 100 per cent Aadhar seeding. Around Rs 1378 crore have been disbursed to more than 39 Lakh beneficiaries through DBT so far during 2022-23.
(b) In the last one year, Jammu and Kashmir recorded 11 Lakh e- transactions per day, which is about 48,000 e-transactions per hour.
Budget 2023-24
The priorities for the Budget of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir for the year 2023-24 shall be based on the underlying themes:
Good Governance Strengthening Grass-root Democracy Promoting Sustainable Agriculture Facilitating Investment & Industrial Growth. Employment Generation. Accelerated Development & Inclusive Growth. Women Empowerment. Social Inclusion. Doubling GDP within five years.
The budget 2023-24 for Jammu and Kashmir shall again cross Rs 1 lakh crore mark, an indicator of our commitment to make Jammu and Kashmir a model of development. The total budget estimates for the fiscal is Rs. 1,18,500 crore, of which developmental expenditure is of the order of Rs. 41,491 crore.
The capital component of the budget has increased substantially. The expected revenue receipts are Rs 1,06,061 crore whereas Revenue expenditure is expected to be Rs 77,009 crore, thereby making available revenue surplus for capital expenditure to the tune of Rs 29,052 crore.
The Capital Receipts are projected at Rs 12,439 crore and Capital Expenditure is expected to the tune of Rs 41,491 crore. 35% of the earmarked Budget shall be spent on development and infrastructure projects.
Socio-Economic Development
Agriculture, Horticulture and Sericulture Sector:
(a) The Jammu and Kashmir Holistic Agriculture Development Plan will be rolled out which will make horizontal change in the agriculture sector in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Under this plan, 29 projects have been approved with an outlay of Rs 5,012 crore over a period of next five years. This will transform the agriculture economy of Jammu and Kashmir putting it on a new trajectory of growth, doubling the output of sectors, boosting exports and making the sectors sustainable and commercially viable. It will herald a new phase of farming prosperity and rural livelihood security in Jammu and Kashmir and create additional job opportunities to 2,87,910 people in agriculture and allied sectors. 18,861 new business enterprises will be created over the period of next five years.
(b) Under this Holistic Agriculture Development Plan; 67,000 Metric Ton Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage space will be created with full value chain and aggregation network. Honey production will be tripled and Cocoon production will be increased from 700 Metric Ton to 1,350 Metric Ton over the period of next five years.
(c) Market-led production of food grains and high value crops will be grown in non-traditional areas.
(d) Farm power to be raised to 2.5 KW/hectare to minimize human drudgeries, reduction in cost of cultivation and ensure timely action and increase in production and productivity.
(e) The earnings from export of speciality products like Basmati, Rajmash, Kala Zeera, Mushkibudji, Saffron and honey will also increase.
(f) The area under assured irrigation will also expand from 30 per cent to 40 per cent.
(g) The gross cropped area will register rise from present 11.34 lakh Hectare to 12.50 Lakh Hectare by way of increased cropping intensity (Double/Triple cropping).
(h) Production and post-harvest losses will be reduced from 20-25% to 15-18% through post-harvest management initiatives envisaged under various schemes.
(i) Providing of Silk-Worm Seeds of improved races procured from National Silkworm Seed Organization (NSSO) to the farmers for conducting silkworm rearing. The seed to the farmers is supplied on highly subsidized rates by the Department.
(j) 200 Farmers to be provided rearing appliances to assist in rearing of cocoons on scientific lines for increasing cocoon yield.
(k) Construction of Chawki and Rearing Centre for incubation of Silk Worm Seeds for distribution of chawki reared worms to the rearers.
(l) Production of Pheromone baited traps for integrated pest management in fruit plants.
(m) Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics for automation in Agriculture.
(n) Packaging units for food items like Gucchi, Rajmash and other local forests/ Agriculture produce at Bhaderwah, District Doda.
(o) Establishment of cedar wood oil extraction and packaging unit at Bhaderwah, District Doda.
(p) International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) project to be taken for implementation during 2023-24 with funding under multilateral agency and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
(q) Production of designer plants for promotion of High Density Plantation and Rejuvenation of Orchards.
(r) Strengthening Agricultural Marketing in Jammu and Kashmir by providing platform to the growers for marketing of horticulture produce, buyer-seller linkages for direct contact for sale and purchase of horticulture produce and ensuring more profits to farmers/ growers.
(s) Subsidy Support under the scheme PARVAZ for air transportation of perishable fruits like Cherry, Strawberry, Plum, Pear, Peach, Litchi and exotic/ organic vegetables.
(t) 2000 Metric Ton capacity cold store at Narwal Jammu and 2,500 Metric Ton capacity cold store at Mazbugh, Sopore to be established.
(u) GI tagging of local produce to authenticate and promote fruits of the Union Territory.
(v) Support under development of High Density Plantation Nurseries Scheme in public & private sector for increasing area under Mango and Citrus plantations in Hectare, Kiwi fruit plantations in Hectare, Apple, Walnut and Stone fruit plantations in Hectare.
For Agriculture and Horticulture Sectors, an allocation of about Rs. 2526.74 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs. 1239.45 crore more than previous year’s budget allocation.
Animal, Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries Sector:
(a) Under the Holistic Agriculture Development Plan milk output will increase by 75% and milk entering processing chain will be tripled over the period of next five years. Jammu and Kashmir will become self-reliant in mutton and wool production.
(b) The Trout and Carp production to be doubled over the next five years.
(c) Increase in milk production from 25 to 45 Lakh Metric Ton alongwith increase in milk collection/chilling from 2.0 to 8.5 lakh litres per day (LLPD) and around 3.6 Thousand Metric Ton of value added products will enter the market over the next five years.
(d) Income enhancement of sheep rearers/breeders for greater livelihood security. Employment and income generation boost to wool processing industries.
(e) Towards self-sufficiency in fodder development for supporting burgeoning livestock population and to narrow down the fodder deficit of Union Territory by 80%.
For Animal, Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries Sectors, an allocation of about Rs. 629.70 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs 267.84 crore more than previous year’s budget allocation.
Health and wellness:
The Health and Medical Education Department is regularly focusing on improved public service delivery mechanism and meeting Indian Public Health Standard (IPHS) norms through extended outreach for health care of masses and improving patient experience. The stakeholder’s feedback is assessed and ranking of health facilities is done regularly.
Operationalization of modern Drug Testing Laboratory at Kathua.
Operationalization of Cancer Institute, Jammu
Establishment & operationalization of Cathlabs at Government Medical College Anantnag
Attaining Tuberculosis (TB) free status for Districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian and Kupwara.
Saturation in operationalization of all Health & Wellness Centres.
Training on Yoga and Wellness for 1000 Ayush Paramedics for extended outreach of Yoga among community under Karamyogi campaign.
Introduction of Robotic Surgery at Government Medical College, Srinagar/ Jammu.
Establishment of Control and command centre for improved patient care at Government Medical College Jammu & Government Medical College Baramulla.
Strengthening of trauma care facilities in accident prone districts through optimization of infrastructure, manpower and provisioning of high-tech equipment’s for emergency diagnosis especially in areas like Doda/Kishtwar/Ramban.
Establishment of 25 Urban Health & Wellness Centres, 57 Block Public Health Units, 04 District Integrated Public Health Labs & One 50 Bedded Critical Care Block.
All facilities to be covered under Kayakalap.
Extension of telemedicine services for Intensive Care Units.
Extension of modules under Health Management Information System (HMIS) for improving Public Health Delivery Mechanism and Patient Records under Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA).
Tribal Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) and Mobile Medical Units for tribal areas.
Effective management for day care chemotherapy in all Districts.
Up-Scaling/Updation of OPD/IPD facilities under Nasha Mukt Abhiyan.
Reduction in C-Section deliveries by at least 20 per cent.
100 per cent screening of school children and other sections of the population.
Implementation of Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele-MANAS).
Implementation of e-sanjeevani.
Establishment of medicine delivery system with introduction of drones for essential supplies/medicine on pilot basis and creation of drone stations.
Implementation of tele Out-patient Department (tele-OPD).
Unified Digi surveillance system in health sector.
Health screening at panchayat level.
100 per cent screening/ surveillance of Non-communicable diseases (NCD) and other diseases.
Early identification of high risk pregnancies & focus on postnatal care.
Full (100%) immunization coverage.
Reinforce Anaemia Mukt Jammu and Kashmir.
Radiotherapy equipment to be made available at all the Medical Colleges.
All 7 Medical Colleges to provide facilities for treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), ST Elevated Myocardial Infracted (STEMI) stroke and chemotherapy.
For Health and Medical Education Sector, an allocation of about Rs. 2097.53 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs 214.97 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Rural Development:
(a) The villages will be developed as Model Villages with all the required amenities. All villages will be declared Open Defecation Free plus status (ODF plus) with implementation of all the components of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G).
(b) Launch of HIMAYAT 2.0 with renewed focus on employment oriented trades for training and convergence of skill related infrastructure across the Departments like Skill Development, Mission Youth Industries & Commerce, School Education, Agriculture etc.
(c) Under NRLM-UMEED, Jammu & Kashmir Rural Livelihoods Mission (JKRLM) will focus on gender issues by forming Gender Forums at District, Block and Panchayat Level for registration of complaints for their redressal and service sector projects. 10,000 additional Self Help Groups (SHGs) will be formed taking total number to 1,00,000 in Jammu and Kashmir.
(d) 1500 new Panchayat Ghars will be constructed under Rastriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) within the initiative of “Har Panchayat- Panchayat Ghar”. 100% Internet connectivity will be provided to the Panchayat Ghars across the Union Territory.
(e) More than 3 lakh mandays of training of PRI members to be carried out under RGSA along with enhanced budget for exposure visits to other progressive States.
(f) 40,000 houses will be constructed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) scheme across Jammu & Kashmir for house less families.
(g) Construction of 87250 Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs) and construction of 2500 Community Sanitary Complexes (CSCs).
(h) More than 2080 villages to have provision for Solid Waste and liquid waste management along with provision for faecal sludge management.
(i) More than 2080 villages to become clean and litter free and these villages will be Plastic free with provisions for grey water.
(j) PRI members accommodation will be created using low cost sustainable technologies.
(k) Under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 400 lakh mandays will be generated under the scheme and it will be fully saturated with issuance of 100% online job cards.
For Rural Sector, an allocation of about Rs. 4169.26 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24.
Power Sector:
(a) Improvement in daily hours of power supply with urban at 24 hours & rural at 22 hours.
(b) Reduction in transformer damage rate, drop in Transmission and Distribution/Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses.
(c) 60% of energy consumed is targeted to be metered via smart meters by April 2023 and 100% consumers to be metered with smart meters by 2024-25.
(d) Renovation and modernization works to be undertaken at existing 220/132 KV Grid Sub Stations and protection/ replacement works at critical towers and insertion of new towers.
(e) Grid Connectivity of Gurez for reliable power supply to this border area and adjoining areas.
(f) Underground cabling through Z-Morh Tunnel for providing 24×7 Power supply to Sonamarg during winters.
(g) Underground cabling at Nunwan for reliable power supply to Holy Cave of Shri Amar Nath Ji.
(h) Construction for 540 MW Kwar Hydro Electric Power project to be initiated during 2023-24.
(i) To enhance the capacity of new 220 KV & 132 KV Grid Sub-Stations by 575 MVA and 100 MVA and existing 220 KV & 132 KV Grid Sub- Stations by 725 MVA and 754 MVA.
(j) Laying of transmission lines at 220 KV and 132 KV level by way of HTLS Conductor and normal ACSR conductors on critical lines. This will increase current carrying capacity by almost two times, which in- turn will lead to better utilization of existing Grid Stations. Besides, it will ensure reliable and smooth power supply.
(k) Addition to length of LT/HT network by 1324.073 Km.
For Power Sector, an allocation of about Rs. 1964.90 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24.
Tourism and Culture:
(a) As a “Tourism Mission” initiative 75 new destination, 75 Sufi/religious sites, 75 new cultural/heritage sites and 75 new tracks are being developed and opened up so that the economic gain of tourism industry trickle down to far off and hitherto unexplored areas. The promotion of Film Tourism will be important component of the “Tourism Mission” for the year 2023-24.
(b) Caravan Tourism, a new tourism vertical to be opened which will provide tourists a new activity and aid in promoting unexplored areas and off-beat destinations with minimal infrastructure projects. Eco-mobility facility to be created at Sonamarg, so that tourist can visit Thajiwas Glacier without effecting the environment.
(c) To add new vertical in tourism sector, Vista Dome Services to be operationalized on Baramulla-Banihal Railway stretch in collaboration with Railways.
(d) Road shows/events /festivals will be conducted at Union Territory, National and International level to promote tourism.
(e) Development of water parks at twin cities of Jammu & Srinagar.
(f) Upgradation of boat club cum water sports centre at Wular Lake to introduce water sport activities in Wular and Mansabal Lakes. Facilities will be created for water based activities at Dal Lake, Mansar Lake and Bhagliyar dam site.
(g) Athwajan Park, Srinagar and Khadinayar Park, Baramulla to be developed for recreational activities, adventure zones and children playing zones.
(h) Sporting activities to be conducted at new destinations like Sonamarg, Doodpathri Yusmarg, Bhaderwah & Patnitop besides at Gulmarg.
(i) Tourist Information Centres to be established at Baltal, Chandenwari, newly constructed Tunnel at Qazigund, Teetwal and Gurez for catering pilgrimage tourism during Shri Amar Nath Ji Yatra and promotion of Border Tourism.
(j) Promotion of traditional & cultural festivals across the Union Territory.
(k) Women guides to be encouraged at tourist places.
(l) Culture Centres to be established at Bandipora, Shopian, Anantnag, Kishtwar, Udhampur, Kathua, Jammu and Poonch.
(m) All the public libraries of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to be transformed into e-Libraries.
(n) Two old heritage sites at Shergari Complex and Old Shri Pratap Singh (SPS) Museum Srinagar to be restored and conserved under conservation of heritage sites programme.
(o) Abhinav Theatre at Jammu and Tagore Hall at Srinagar to be repaired, restored and upgraded.
(p) Talent hunt activities to be conducted.
(q) New “Art Museum” at stone building, Old Secretariat, Srinagar to be constructed.
(r) Historical fort at Samba, Narastan Monument at Tral, Pulwama, Hariparbat Fort at Srinagar and General Zorawar Singh Palace at Reasi to be refurbished for encouraging tourism.
For Tourism and Culture sectors, an allocation of about Rs 457.39 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs 54.31 crore more than previous year’s budget allocation.
Jal Shakti Department:
PHE Sector:
(a) All 18.36 Lakh households of Jammu and Kashmir to have Functional Household Tap connections by 2023-24. Every household to be provided drinking water with minimum 55 litre per capita per day (LPCD) and of prescribed quality (confirming to BIS 10500) on regular, long term and sustainable basis.
(b) 60 water supply schemes are likely to be completed during 2023-24.
(c) 100% Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) based tanker service to be introduced in rural areas.
(d) National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation for 20 Labs.
(e) Digitalization of consumer records and implementation of online billing system in entire Jammu and Kashmir.
Irrigation and Flood Control Sector:
(a) Construction of Tawi Barrage to be completed during 2023-24.
(b) Timely desilting of irrigation canals.
(c) Completion of Hokarsar wetland sluice gates for maintaining optimal water depth.
(d) Implementation of part-B of “Jehlum Flood Management” for increasing its carrying capacity.
For Jal Shakti Department, an allocation of Rs. 7161 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for 2023-24, which is Rs. 3191 crore more the previous year’s budget allocation.
Housing and Urban Development Sector:
(a) 50,000 Households are likely to be provided with water tap connections during 2023-24, under universal coverage of water supply to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
(b) Sewage management of Dal Lake, Polluted river stretch of Anantnag and the remaining towns are being covered under septage management.
(c) 13.60 Million Litres per Day (MLD) capacity to be added under project Devika.
(d) Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) of 89.83 MLD capacity to be installed in phased manner, which is likely to benefit 6,20,565 souls.
(e) Under AMRUT-2.0 all the identified water bodies in the ULBs are being rejuvenated in phased manner, besides, river fronts viz. Jhelum River Front in Srinagar & Tawi River Front in Jammu are being developed through Smart Cities Mission and will be completed during 2023-24.
(f) Open Defecation Free (ODF) has been achieved in all 78 ULBs of Union Territory and 16 ULBs are ODF+. 100% ODF+ to be achieved in all ULBs during 2023-24.
(g) Under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U); 18,934 dwelling units to be completed during 2023-24 under Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC) component.
(h) For improving access to rental housing for urban poor migrants, 336 flats at Sunjwan, Jammu are being upgraded and will be provided to the urban poor/migrants during 2023-24.
(i) Mass Housing/New Townships/Affordable Housing for Economically Weaker Section/Low Income Group/Middle Income Group to be developed at Gund-a-Raksha & Chatterhama, Srinagar and Kot Bhalwal at Jammu.
(j) 130 projects are expected to be completed under “Smart Cities Mission” during 2023-24. This will have improved infrastructure, Integration of technologies for smart governance, smart mobility, smart health centers, development of green spaces, street lightening and promotion of heritage.
(k) Elevated light Metro Rail in both the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar is expected to be rolled out during 2023-24 which will help the commuters in both the capital cities and also help in traffic decongestion.
(l) An Inter Model Station (IMS) at Katra as a terminal infrastructure to integrate various transportation modes such as Rail, Road and Air to be developed during 2023-24.
(m) Promoting circular economy.
(n) Scheme for disposal of electronic waste to be introduced.
(o) Introduction of policy for city mobility plans.
(p) Establishment of “Ladies Haat” and Ladies exclusively markets at Srinagar, Jammu and other major towns.
(q) Creation of Ekta Malls.
For Housing and Urban Development Sector, an allocation of about Rs. 2928.04 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs. 674.78 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Education Sector:
I School Education:
(a) Intensive enrolment drive under Aao School Chalein to be continued for increasing gross enrollment ratio.
(b) 2000 Kindergartens are proposed to be established during 2023-24 for providing quality pre-primary education.
(c) 10 residential schools to be established during 2023-24 with preference to tribal students and students from weaker sections for accommodating in these residential schools on merit for providing them quality education.
(d) 1000 smart classrooms with LCD & having high speed internet connectivity in a class to be established in High & Higher Secondary Schools for imparting quality education to students.
(e) Sports infrastructure including change rooms for players to be provided to 100 High and Higher Secondary schools.
(f) 500 additional class rooms to be provided in high and higher Secondary Schools benefitting more than 20,000 students.
(g) Free text books to be provided to all the students of elementary classes.
(h) Free uniform to be provided to all the elementary students belonging to weaker sections.
(i) Drinking water facility and gender based toilet facility to be made available in all the Schools.
(j) 500 schools to be provided ICT Labs and 100 Vocational Labs to be established in the Schools.
(k) Under Infrastructure/Quality Education, one residential school each in Baramulla, Shopian, Kishtwar and Rajouri Districts will be established to provide education to the wards of migratory people.
(l) 188 Virtual Reality Labs to be established in Jammu and Kashmir (One Lab in each Zone) to inculcate the scientific temper among students.
(m) 40 Robotic Labs to be established (Two Labs in each District) to help in improving schools digital equity, literacy and economic development besides, new teaching methodologies.
(n) Yoga training for all the students to keep them fit to be introduced as part of co-curricular activities.
Higher Education:
(a) Jammu and Kashmir is one of the front runner in adoption of National Education Policy (NEP) and will be fully implemented in the year 2023-24.
(b) NAAC accreditation of 32 colleges will be completed in 2023-24.
(c) Samarth “ERP eGov Suite”, will be fully implemented in 2023-24 with an aim at managing HRM, estate and inventory of Government Colleges and creating a centralized admission with student life cycle.
(d) Higher Education Council to be made functional during 2023-24.
(e) 08 college buildings and 04 hostel buildings likely to be completed in 2023-24
(f) 04 auditoriums and 04 multipurpose halls likely to be completed in 2023-24
(g) 02 library blocks likely to be completed in 2023-24.
For School and Higher Education Sector, an allocation of about Rs 1521.87 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs 193.61 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Road Connectivity (Roads & Bridges):
(a) Overall, 6000 Kilometres of black-topping of roads is expected to be achieved during 2023-24 under all Schemes.
(b) 253 new projects at an estimated cost of Rs 1292 crore have been prioritized to be sanctioned under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF)-XXVIII with NABARD funding and will be taken for execution during 2023-24.
(c) Safety audit of bridges having completed 20 years has been completed during 2022-23. Safety audit for the bridges having completed 10 years to be conducted during 2023-24.
(d) Efforts are being put on maintenance of road/bridge assets and also for road safety measures.
(e) Construction of 60 ongoing bridges sanctioned under different schemes to be completed during 2023-24.
(f) “Passing Bays” on all major roads to be constructed during 2023-24.
(g) PMGSY-III works to be started during 2023-24.
For Road and Bridge Sector, an allocation of about Rs 4062.87 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs 98.99 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Industries and Commerce:
(a) 29 major projects have been identified for development of new industrial estates during 2023-24.
(b) The investment proposals for setting up of Medicities in Jammu and Srinagar have been received for creation of health infrastructure in private sector. Medicities at Sempora, Srinagar and Meeran Sahib, Jammu are being established to provide better health care facilities.
(c) The main aim of “One District One Product” is to promote local product for export. In this behalf district Srinagar & Jammu have been selected amongst the 75 districts across India for export of local products.
(d) 1500 units under Jammu and Kashmir Rural Employment Generation Programme (J&KREGP) are targeted to be established in 2023-24 involving margin money of 30 crore with employment to 9000 persons.
(e) Exhibitions to be conducted for showcasing of industrial potential.
(f) Workshops on capacity building/start-up promotion to be organized.
(g) Providing of turnover incentives to boost industrial Development for entailing increase in employment.
(h) Introduction of quality certification with branding under Handloom and Handicraft sector.
(i) Popularization of local products.
(j) Reducing compliances on “Ease of Living” and “Ease of Doing Business”.
(k) Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) development policy to be notified.
(l) Samadhaan 2.0 to be implemented.
(m) Tie-up of MSME with e-commerce platforms to be taken.
(n) Policy framework to support private investment to be introduced.
(o) Implementation of unified logistic interface platform.
(p) Creation of export hubs.
(q) Adoption of plug and play model for key development sectors including manufacturing sector.
For Industries and Commerce Sector, an allocation of about Rs 741.79 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs 283.40 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Social Security Sector:
(a) Biometric Attendance System to be installed at all the Anganwadi Centres in phased manner.
(b) Scholarship to 124300, Pre-Matric students (1st-8th) belonging to categories of Scheduled Caste/Other Backward Classes/Economically Backward Classes/Physically Challenged Persons will be covered.
(c) All the Child Care Institutions to be developed on modern pattern with best living conditions for the inmates. 1700 inmates in 19 Bal Ashrams and 12 Nari Niketans to be covered.
(d) District Disability Rehabilitation Centers (DDRC) to be established in all 20 districts.
(e) Creation of Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW) – Mahila Shakti Kendras
(f) Establishment of GPS enabled women helpline.
(g) Construction of working women hostels.
(h) Training for specially abled persons.
For Social Security Sector, an allocation of about Rs 98.92 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24.
Tribal Welfare:
(a) 24 Scheduled Tribe & Gujjar /Bakerwal Hostels to be completed.
(b) 07 Transit Accommodations for nomadic population are targeted to be completed.
(c) Milk villages and smart schools will be established for tribal population.
(d) Creation of market linkage for Tribal products like milk, mutton, sheep wool, leather etc.
(e) Transport facilities are being made available to tribal families for the seasonal migration of their goods and cattle.
(f) Tracking of educational, healthcare and economic status of nomadic population.
For Tribal Affairs, an allocation of about Rs 446.76 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs. 13.97 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Relief and Rehabilitation of Kashmiri Migrants:
(a) Foundation stone has been laid for construction of 936 flats as transit accommodation for Kashmiri Pandit employees at Zewan, Srinagar under Prime Ministers Development Programme. 1984 Transit Accommodations for kashmiri migrant employees will be completed during 2023-24.
(b) The remaining posts of 355 out of 6000 posts under PM-Package for kashmiri migrants to be filled during 2023-24.
(c) The cash assistance and food grains for Kashmiri/Jammu migrants to continue under SRE.
For above package, an allocation of about Rs. 1102 crore has been made for the year under Revenue & Capital Expenditure 2023-24, which is Rs. 267 crore more than the previous year.
Youth Empowerment, Employment and Entrepreneurship:
(a) Financial support through banks and Mission Youth to be provided to youth for undertaking self employment ventures.
(b) Under Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Jammu and Kashmir Rural Employment Generation Programme (J&KREGP) & Jammu and Kashmir Urban Employment Generation Programme (J&KUEGP) financial support in the shape of margin money will be provided for establishment of viable business units in rural & urban areas.
(c) Under Self Employment Schemes viz Seed Capital Fund, Youth Startup Loan, National Minority Development Finance Corporation & Women Employment Programme a target of establishing 3200 units has been set for achieving employment for 8100 persons.
(d) 40 job fairs including 02 mega job fairs, each at Jammu & Srinagar, to be organized.
(e) 06 Model Career Centres to be established at Jammu, Srinagar, Anantnag, Shopian, Bandipora and Kupwara during 2023-24.
(f) Establishment of international workforce mobility tracking system.
(g) Skill development programme for overseas employment aspirants.
(h) Youth Clubs to be made vibrant for up-skilling of youth.
Sports Initiatives:
(a) More and more sports activities in every nook and corner of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to be conducted to engage 70 lakh youth in sports activities during 2023-24.
(b) High Performance Centres to be established in Fencing, Wushu and Gymnastics.
(c) Two Yoga Centres will be established one at Moulana Azad Stadium, Jammu and one at Bakshi Stadium, Srinagar.
(d) Community participation in sports to be enhanced for developing vibrant sports ecosystem in the Union Territory.
(e) 25 national events to be hosted in different sports events under Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat Abhiyan.
(f) Cricket, Football, Volleyball and Wushu academies to be set up for institutionalization of sports learning process.
(g) Women participation in sports and para-athletics to be encouraged.
Skill Development:
(a) Up-Skilling of 60,000 Self Help Groups (SHGs) through customized courses and trainings in convergence with other departments.
(b) Skilling scenario to be improved under Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) in 8 aspirational/border districts viz. Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri, Samba, kathua, Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara.
(c) Assessment/performance audit of all Industrial Training Institutes to be conducted.
(d) Construction of Hostels in various Polytechnics and Industrial Training Institutes to be undertaken for providing boarding facilities to the trainees enrolled in various Polytechnics & Industrial Training Institutes across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
(e) Inclusive skill mapping of youth in Schools, Industrial Training Institutes, Polytechnics, Colleges and in tribal areas for disadvantaged youth to be conducted through UNICEF.
(f) Construction of workshop blocks at Government Industrial Training Institute Handwara, Patan & Tangdhar to give a significant boost by imparting the technical and practical training skills to the trainees.
(g) Creation of “Skill Hubs”.
(h) Training workshop on wheels to be introduced.
(i) Dynamic District & Union Territory level skill development plan to be framed to encompass all skilling.
(j) ‘Skill Loans’ from Jammu and Kashmir Bank for aspiring candidates.
For Youth Empowerment, Employment, Entrepreneurship, skill Development and Sports Activities, an allocation of about Rs 396.63 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24.
Forestry and Environment:
(a) Green Jammu and Kashmir drive to be carried out as an umbrella programme on afforestation. 1.50 crore saplings are targeted to be planted during 2023-24.
(b) 4290 Village Panchayats to be covered under “Har Gaon Hariyali” plantation drive.
(c) Under “One Beat Guard, One Village Programme” saplings and other planting material of fiber, food, fodder and timber species to be provided for planting in the village common land, kachharai and wasteland.
(d) Conserving and promoting clean wetlands in forest/ protected areas.
(e) Fodder production in forest areas to be enhanced.
(f) All ponds in forest areas to be rejuvenated.
(g) “Plastic Free Forests” initiative, to be launched as a campaign.
(h) 6000 eco-clubs to be registered in schools.
(i) De-silting of Wular Lake to be undertaken in a mission mode.
(j) Jambu Zoo will be ready and thrown open to the people in 2023-24.
(k) Pro Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive and Virtuous Environmental Singlewindow Hub (PARIVESH) 2.0 to be implemented.
For Forest, Ecology and Environment Sector, an allocation of about Rs. 207.75 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs. 68.52 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs:
(a) 100 per cent distribution of ration to beneficiaries through Point of Sale (POS) machines.
(b) Digitalization of store inventory and complete implementation of supply chain management.
(c) Computerized weighing bridges to be put in place at Udhampur, Kishtwar, Ramban and Doda.
(d) Working Standard Laboratories to be constructed at Bandipora, Shopian, Pulwama, Doda and Budgam.
(e) Remodeling and face lifting of storage godowns at Nagrota, Rajouri, Khanabal, Kulgam and Beerwah.
(f) Implementation of e-rupee transactions in deliverance of public distribution services.
For Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, an allocation of about Rs.
390.87 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs. 21.49 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Science and Technology:
(a) Under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) Component “B”, around 4000 Solar Agriculture Pumps will be installed during 2023-24.
(b) Under PM-KUSUM Component “C”, 5000 solar agriculture pumps will be taken up for installation during 2023-24 replacing the existing agriculture grid connected pumps.
(c) Under Jammu Solar City Project, against total sanctioned target of 200 Megawatt Rooftop Solar Power Plants, around 80 Megawatts in aggregate to be achieved in 2023-24, covering around 20,000 households.
(d) Under Rooftop Solar Power Plants for domestic sector funded by Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), 3000 households will be covered to achieve installed capacity of 10 Megawatts during 2023-24.
(e) Under Srinagar Smart City Project, around 3 Megawatt Rooftop Solar Power Plants will be installed in Srinagar city.
(f) In first phase 50 buildings of Srinagar city and 20 other government buildings in different districts will be identified for providing grid connected rooftop solar power plants. The target will be to cover all the government buildings in a mission mode.
(g) Around 72 Megawatts aggregate capacity of small hydro power projects ranging from 2-10 Megawatts to be allotted to IPPs during 2023-24.
(h) Construction of Energy Bhawan at Channi Himmat, Jammu to be completed by end of 2023-24.
(i) Innovation and dissemination center within the premises of Sub- Regional Science Centre, Lal Mandi, Srinagar to be established. This project will provide the impetus for creation of start-ups.
(j) Demonstration farms of aromatic and medicinal plants to be established in various districts of the Union Territory.
(k) Financial support to be provided to 100 Research and Development projects during 2023-24.
(l) Process for establishment of Sub-Regional Science Centre, Jammu to be taken in collaboration with National Council of Science Museums, Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
For Science & Technology, an allocation of Rs. 109.85 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs. 37.00 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Cooperative Department:
(a) Restructuring of cooperative banks for enabling them to become profitable.
(b) Core banking solution to be adopted by all the cooperative banks and starting of internet banking facility thereof.
(c) Digitalization and compilation of data of all cooperative societies in Data Base Management System (DBMS).
(d) 80 new food processing units to be setup and made functional. This will lead to growth in income of cooperatives and employment generation for youth.
(e) Members of all “Artisan Cooperative Societies” to be saturated with Artisan Credit Cards.
(f) Modernization of super bazars at Jammu, Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramulla & Budgam to be initiated and expediting construction of new cooperative super bazars at unexplored locations.
(g) Computerization of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), enabling their electronic linking with District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs).
(h) Establishment of Women led Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs).
For Cooperatives, an allocation of Rs 25.00 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs. 10.00 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Revenue Department
(a) Legacy data of last 20 years to be scanned, digitized and uploaded on National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) Portal/ UT Data Centre.
(b) Installation of Safety equipment’s to prevent any damage to the record of registration documents for the Sub-Registrar offices.
For Revenue Department, an allocation of Rs 59.50 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs 12.65 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
Transport Department:
(a) Scrapping policy of old vehicles in Transport Sector
(b) Introduction of buses and pink taxies for women.
(c) Women only bus drivers and conductors to be introduced.
For Transport Department, an allocation of Rs 54.39 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for the year 2023-24 which is Rs 9.39 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation
Security related activities:
(a) Police Border posts to be created in all the border districts of the Jammu and Kashmir.
(b) Crime Organization to be strengthened.
(c) Construction and erection of dominant towers/jammers in Jails.
(d) Construction of 02 hostels for wards of police martyrs.
(e) Construction of police housing colonies across Jammu and Kashmir.
(f) Up-gradation of Police Hospitals and Police Public Schools.
(g) Construction of 02 hostels for wards of armed forces (Ex-Servicemen).
(h) Modernization of existing Fire & Emergency Service Stations with procurement of latest technology driven instruments.
(i) Construction of Narcotic Lab at Forensic Science Laboratory, Srinagar and Toxicology & Narcotic Lab at Forensic Science Laboratory, Jammu.
(j) Construction and up-gradation of Physics & Ballistic Division at Forensic Science Laboratory, Jammu & Srinagar.
(k) CCTV Surveillance system to be completed in all police stations and police posts.
(l) CCTV cameras with command and control centre at public places.
For Security Related Activities, an allocation of Rs 1,197 crore has been made for the year 2023-24.
Financial Reforms/e-governance Initiatives:
(a) e-Office to be extended to all the offices of the Jammu and Kashmir.
(b) e-billing system Public Works Online Management, Monitoring & Accounting System (PWOMAS) to be extended in all the Engineering Departments.
(c) All the services and beneficiary-oriented scheme to be made 100% online.
(d) PM-Gati Shakti to be fully implemented in all the Departments.
(e) Universal transition to High Security Registration Plates and implementation of vehicle tracking platform to ensure continuous monitoring of all vehicles especially for safety of women.
(f) Intelligent Ticketing Management System to be introduced in Jammu and Kashmir Road Transport Corporation.
(g) Creation of online Census Management System by way of development of Mobile App.
(h) Introduction of GST data Triangulation.
(i) Creation of e-invoice system of GST.
(j) Transition of GST-IN into GST-Prime.
(k) Linking of e-way bill to FASTag & VAHAAN.
(l) Creation of single unique helpline by IT Department.
(m) Capacity building framework through inter- state knowledge exchange programme.
Supplementary Grant for the Current Financial Year 2022-23:
(a) The original grant for the financial year 2022-23 was Rs 1,12,950 crore. During the course of year from 1st April, 2022 to 31st March, 2023 an amount of Rs. 3711.7176 crore shall be withdrawn in excess of grant under the relevant Demands out of the Consolidated Fund of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to defray expenses on services and purposes required during the period. This had been largely necessitated due to expenses on account of increase in salaries due to hike in DA @ 4%, annual increment, grant-in-aid, subsidy and other revenue expenses including pension and other retirement benefits, increased capital allocation under different sectors like Irrigation & Flood Control Projects, Tribal Sub Plan Projects, Skill Development Projects etc.
(b) The Supplementary Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill No (01) is proposed to be presented to authorize payment and appropriation of Rs. 3711.7176 crore from and out of the Consolidated Fund of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the period w.e.f 1st April, 2022 to 31st March, 2023.
BUDGET ESTIMATES OF THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2023-24 FOR UNION TERRITORY OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR:
(a) The total receipts of 2023-24 are estimated at Rs 1,18,500 crore. Of which, Rs.1,06,061 crore are revenue receipts, Rs. 12,439 crore are capital receipts and Rs 30,000 crore are Ways & Means Advances. The own revenues both tax and non-tax are estimated to be Rs. 34,942 crore. In addition to this, Rs 35,581 crore are to flow as central assistance and Rs. 26,786 crore as CSS/ PMDP to Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
(b) Given these receipts, the total expenditure is estimated to be Rs 1,18,500 crore of this, capital expenditure would be Rs 41,491 crore and revenue expenditure Rs 77,009 crore.
(c) The Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill No (02) is proposed to be presented to authorize payment and appropriation of Rs 1,48,500 crore from and out of the Consolidated Fund of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the period w.e.f 1st April, 2023 to 31st March, 2024.
Fiscal Indicators:
(a) The tax/GDP ratio is projected at 8.82 % for 2023-24 which is higher than the previous year of 7.77 %.
(b) Debt/GDP ratio for 2023-24 is 49 %.
(c) GDP growth for the year 2023-24 has been projected at Rs. 2,30,727 crore which shows a growth of 10 % over the previous year.
Mr. Speaker Sir, with these words, I commend the Supplementary Budget (for 01.04.2022 to 31.03.2023), and Budget for the year 2023-24 of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir to this August House for further consideration.
SRINAGAR: Anurag Thakur, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, alleged on Friday that The New York Times was disseminating falsehoods about India. He characterized an opinion article published by the newspaper on press freedom in Kashmir as deceptive and imaginary.
“New York Times had long back dropped all pretensions of neutrality while publishing anything about India. NYT‘s so-called opinion piece on freedom of press in Kashmir is mischievous and fictitious, published with a sole motive to spread a propaganda about India and its democratic institutions and values,” Thakur remarked on Twitter.
“This is in continuation with what NYT and a few other link-minded foreign media have been spreading lies about India and our democratically elected Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Such lies can’t last long,” the minister added
Thakur’s rebuttal was prompted by the publication of an opinion piece in a US-based newspaper, which made allegations about restrictions on the free flow of information in Kashmir.
“Some foreign media nourishing a grudge against India and our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi have long been systematically trying to peddle lies about our democracy and pluralistic society,” Thakur said. He said freedom of press in India is as sacrosanct as other fundamental rights.
“Democracy in India and We the people are very mature and we don’t need to learn grammar of democracy from such agenda-driven media,” he said.
“Indians will not allow such mindsets to run their decisive agenda on India soil,” the minister said.
