‘People have accepted changes, law & order has improved’
Intense debate in LS over UT’s budget
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 18: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today that Assembly elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be held after the process for delimitation of Assembly constituencies is completed but asserted that a decision (on the polls) has to be taken by the Election Commission of India. She maintained that people of Jammu and Kashmir have accepted (August 5, 2019) changes because of which law and order has improved and people have been participating in every activity peacefully.
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“A demand has been raised for conduct of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir by some members. I appreciate their concerns. The Government is seized of the issue. Only after the process for delimitation of Assembly constituencies is completed in J&K, the Assembly elections can be held. However, a decision on conduct of the polls has to be taken by the Election Commission of India,” Sitharaman said replying to debate on annual budget of J&K in Lok Sabha this evening.
The grants for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir including Revised Grants for 2020-21 and Annual Grants for 2021-22 were passed in the Lok Sabha.
Rs 1.08 lakh crore worth budget of Jammu and Kashmir was tabled in the Parliament by the Finance Minister yesterday. J&K’s budget had to be passed by the Parliament in the absence of Legislature in the Union Territory due to delay in conduct of Assembly elections.
Asserting that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have accepted the changes (post August 5, 2019), the Finance Minister said law and order situation has improved in the Union Territory and people are participating in every activity peacefully.
“The District Development Council (DDC) elections, which were described as referendum, have proved faith of people in the democratic institutions. There was 51 percent turnout in the elections. If law and order has not improved how there can be 51 percent voting in the DDC elections in the rural areas?”, she asked.
Extending gratitude to the common people of Jammu and Kashmir for reposing faith in democratic institutions, Sitharaman said the people have welcomed abrogation of Article 370 and terrorism-linked incidents have gone down in the Valley.
Economic package for industry will provide great relief to the people, she said and added that number of Class-IV posts have been advertised while interviews have been abolished for Level 5 posts.
Sitharaman said the estimated expenditure and revenue for Jammu and Kashmir are more than last budget which will further fast track the development works.
She announced that Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail line will be completed in December 2022.
She said the allocation for Rural Development sector has been given substantial increase in the budget.
Referring to development, the Finance Minister said only 3500 MW power was generated in Jammu and Kashmir during last 70 years while 3300 MW power generation MoUs have been signed this year.
“The Government is working with sole motive of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vishwaas’ in Jammu and Kashmir. The development has reached entire Jammu and Kashmir,” she said, adding that during the year 2018-19, 8106 development projects were completed which went up to 10,500 in 2019-20 and this year, 16,000 works will be finished.
Hundred percent households have been electrified while 100 percent will be covered with Jal Jeevan Mission in the Union Territory by September 2022, she added. Srinagar and Ganderbal districts have already been covered with 100 percent water connections, she said.
BJP’s second-time Lok Sabha member from Jammu-Poonch constituency Jugal Kishore Sharma described the budget as “development oriented” saying such a budget wasn’t presented even when Jammu and Kashmir was a State.
“Successful conduct of the District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir was clear indications that the UT is moving ahead towards development and progress and the people, who had been denied their rights, are getting their due. Funds are reaching the people and not the two families as was the case earlier. Narendra Modi Government’s slogan of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vishwaas’ is touching the grass-root level,” Jugal Kishore said.
Asserting that first Prime Minister of India Jawahar Lal Nehru sunk Kashmir, Jugal blamed Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah for Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) being part of Pakistan.
He demanded that daily wagers and adhoc employees should be regularized.
Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference accused the Government of pushing Jammu and Kashmir into bureaucracy from democracy and said ruefully that the budget should have been discussed in its Assembly.
The steps taken by the Centre have turned out to be a “misadventure” that has achieved nothing, and only future will tell what all this “fire” will consume, he said.
Youth from the region have been lodged in jails outside and disagreement is being muzzled, he alleged
Earlier, Lok Sabha today witnessed an intense debate during a discussion on supplementary demands for grants for Jammu and Kashmir with Opposition alleging the situation has worsened there after it was made a Union Territory, while the ruling BJP asserted the move empowered grassroots democracy and ushered in development.
BJP’s, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, MP from Ladakh, hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “yug purush” for realizing the dream of BJP ideologue Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, who had opposed special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Initiating the discussion, Congress’ Anumula Revanth Reddy said the incidents of “crossfire” have risen to their highest numbers in the last 16 years in the Union Territory and accused the government of slapping criminal cases on local journalists for writing critical pieces.
The 2019 decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s Statehood has proved to be wrong, he said, and also took a dig at the BJP for its bid to associate itself with Sardar Patel while criticizing Jawaharlal Nehru, saying India’s first Home Minister was part of the “Congress parivar”.
Patel, as member of the Nehru Cabinet, had banned the RSS, Reddy said, adding that BJP ideologue Mookerjee was a member of the same Cabinet which had enacted Article 370 to give Jammu and Kashmir special status.
Reddy’s assertion drew a sharp retort from Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal who said B R Ambedkar, besides Mookerjee, were opposed to Article 370. And it was only a temporary provision, he added.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur said the Congress had “forgotten” Patel and even “opposed” the Modi Government’s decision to build the world’s largest statue in his honour.
It is “us”, he said, who reminded the country of Patel’s contributions, forcing the Congress to remember him.
Jamyang praised the budget for Jammu and Kashmir, saying it will lead to its all-round development.
He took a swipe at the Congress for criticizing the Modi Government for detaining Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti just before scrapping the Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, saying a Congress Government at the Centre had put Sheikh Abdullah behind bars for over a decade.
Since Article 370 was annulled, development has reached grassroots with the election of 4,103 Sarpanches, 28,942 Panches and the constitution of block and district development bodies.
“Such an empowerment of grassroots democracy never happened earlier,” he said.
He, however, asked the Centre to speed up the process of filling up vacancies in Ladakh and also sought creation of more districts in the vast but thinly-populated region.
TMC’s Sougata Ray said Jammu and Kashmir’s Statehood should be restored and alleged that peace has not been brought to the Valley as was promised by the Government.
Neither have Kashmiri Pandits been rehabilitated in Kashmir nor has tourism been restored, he added.
Bhartruhari Mahtab of the BJD said he looked forward to the day when Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh are accorded Statehood and also supported the Government’s measures to bring normalcy there.
Noting that two Lok Sabha seats are reserved for the area under Pakistan’s control, he said the issue remains an “unfinished agenda”.
LG thanks PM, HM, FM for historic budget
Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha tonight welcomed the passing of the J&K Appropriation Bill, 2021 along with supplementary demands for the Union Territory by the Lok Sabha.
“I would like to thank Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Home Minister, Amit Shah and Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman for yet another historic budget with emphasis on the growth and development of Jammu & Kashmir. The Government is committed to invest more money in new and accelerated infrastructure projects, support new investments and increase business landscape through incentives in new Industrial Scheme. The budget lays down roadmap for tourism industry to get back on track. Besides, push to rural economy and agriculture would provide a fillip to horticulture and overall agri-sector and benefit the farming community,” Sinha.
“The Government is committed to strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions and substantial allocation has been made for the developmental fund as well as for PRI’s infrastructure. We are cutting the red tape and making it easier for businesses to invest, manufacture and create jobs. Skill development is also one of the high priority areas of the government to ensure the youth of Jammu & Kashmir have the right skills for the jobs of the future. We are also determined to create women entrepreneurship ecosystem to improve their earning potential and enhance economic independence”, he observed.
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