Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Aug 29 : Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that Article 370 blocked reputed and some of the best national level faculty luminaries from joining professional teaching institutions like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Jammu & Kashmir. With the stumbling block removed, it has opened the prospects of some of the best teachers and Professors from the rest of the country coming forward to take up jobs in professional institutions and help in the growth of these institutions at par with other similar institutions of AIIMS and IIT in the rest of India.
Interacting with a group of Delhi based students from some of the remote areas of district Doda and district Udhampur, at North Block, Dr Jitendra Singh said, even after the approval of AIIMS, the difficulty was being faced in finding a suitable faculty because reputed teachers from outside refused to take up jobs when they realized that they would have to live in Jammu & Kashmir without owning a residential house of their own and without the opportunity of their children getting admission in educational institutions or government jobs over here. Giving the example of IIT Jammu, he said, long time after the setting of this institution, there was no Director to take up the job. Similarly, he said, the students in IIM Jammu hesitated taking up a full time job or even an internship or summer training in local industry and would instead prefer to move out.
With the youth of Jammu and Kashmir blessed with high IQ levels as well as the capacity to perform, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it was a sin to deprive them of opportunities simply to keep alive the farce of Article 370.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said,these kind of interactions and the ground feedback received from the students busts the myth spread by people with vested interests that Article 370 was inevitable for J&K to continue being a part of India and that the youth of the State would not accept the decision. He observed that due to this mis-perception and negative propaganda by some anti-social elements, the youth of J&K were deprived of the fruits of development that were available to the youth from other parts of the country.
J&K was plagued with terrorism due to the presence of Article 370, said Dr Jitendra Singh and added, the time has come for the youth from J&K to understand the reality and be a part of development and growth of the country, he added.
The Minister said that now better health care, education, employment opportunities for youth, better pay structure and benefits for Government servants at par with Central Government employees would be available to the people of J&K and Ladakh.
During the interaction, the students brought out particular instances of lack of development in their region i and how things are now beginning to change for better.
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