In an exceptionally important development, the NDA Government led by Prime Minister Modi is seriously considering a special developmental package for the dwellers close to the Line of Actual Control with China in Ladakh region of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Detailed study of developed package has been conducted by teams and senior bureaucrats of the Ministry of Home Affairs for several months in the past. The programme is almost about to be launched in next three or four months and preliminaries have already been completed. Once the actual plan is floated, it will go a long way in changing the life of the people living far away on these borders.
One can imagine some cogent reasons for the MHA to undertake the scheme expeditiously. The study conducted by the official teams has revealed that these far-flung villages are lacking many basic facilities that would contribute to improvement of life of the local people. Owing to absence of facilities, it has been noted that a trend of migrating to Leh is on the rise. It is not in the interest of the nation that people traditionally living on the sensitive borders are forced to leave their native villages and migrate to cities and towns far away from their habitats. Their migration weakens our border surveillance. As such the trend of migration has to be arrested. That can be done only when they are provided more facilities at their places of origin. Second reason is that road and satellite connectivity transportation and communication are of utmost importance in today’s life. The people in these distant areas cannot be left out of quick reach. This becomes the catalyst for floating a scheme, which takes care of these requirements. Lastly, Chinese villages situated at a stone’s throw from the LAC are reported to have been provided many more facilities which are not available to our villagers in the area. It is politically inadvisable to allow big disparity in two life styles.
But apart from all this, there appears one more reason why the Ministry of Home Affairs is prompted to float a special package. A study in the existing situation has revealed that funds provided by the Centre under Border Area Development Programme (BADP) have not been either adequate to meet the needs of the border villages and its inhabitants or have been diverted for development of other villages and towns for which these were not meant. Diversion of funds has been a recurrent complaint by the local authorities in Ladakh. Therefore, the special package of which we are speaking has been contemplated not by the Border Management Division but by the Rehabilitation Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs. As such the contemplated package has nothing to do with the BADP.
The contemplated package will take a number of aspects into consideration. Essentially it is a developmental plan but the modus operandi of the plan could be of different patters. It envisages giving financial support to the dwellers of the LAC for construction of their houses and fixed monthly honorarium for each family. Such families have already been identified. The honorarium will be deposited in their bank accounts and they have been advised to open accounts under the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojna that has been recently floated. The package will focus on some crucial areas of development like construction of roads, water supply schemes, development of pastures and agricultural land, irrigation facilities, electrification of the villages through harnessing of solar energy which is abundantly available in the region, health care and education facilities. The Ministry is reported to be working on the financial component of the package and in all probability that too will be finalized in a couple of months from now.
The importance of developing the LAC areas close to Chinese territories is self explanatory. In the first place floating the package is indirect acknowledgement by the Union Government that this area has not received its due share of development during six decades and half of independence despite repeated requests, entreaties and supplications by the people, their representatives and senior functionaries of Ladakh Hill Development Council. The people living along the LAC with China in this region have always giving exemplary proof of their patriotism and nationalistic spirit. During the skirmishes with either Chinese or Pakistani intruders, they have always lent their support to the Indian army even at the risk of their lives. It is the duty of the Central Government to take care of their welfare and development of their villages. They have to be brought closer to the national mainstream. Thousands of Ladakhi students, boys and girls are admitted to various educational institutions outside Ladakh in Jammu, Chandigarh, Delhi, Bangalore and other educational centres of the country. They need adequate financial assistance by way of enhanced scholarship, tuition fee house rent, medical and other facilities if we want them to become useful citizens to promote national integrity. The special package envisaged by the MHA is a bold and timely step and will be welcomed by one and all.
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