Union Home Ministry Contradicts its Own Figures of Investment in Jammu and Kashmir
NEW DELHI, Jan 3: While eulogising the Narendra Modi government’s performance in converting the “terrorist-hotspot” Jammu and Kashmir into a “tourist hotspot” in the last three years, the union home ministry on Tuesday contradicted its own statement on the floor of Parliament about the investments received by the union territory during the period.
The ministry on Tuesday claimed that Jammu and Kashmir received investments worth ₹56,000 crore in the past three years under the Modi government in comparison to just ₹15,000 crore worth of investments “under the rule of three families” in 70 years. It was directly in contradiction to the Ministry’s reply in the Lok Sabha on December 13 where it said in the fiscal years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, the total investment stood at ₹1,084 crores.
Giving the year-wise break-up, it said the investments stood at ₹296.64 crore in 2019-20, ₹412.74 crore in 2020-21 and ₹376.76 crore in 2021-22. Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, in a written reply had said, “Government of Jammu and Kashmir has reported receiving proposals for investments worth approximately ₹64,000 crore so far.”
The Ministry, in its 2022 year-end review, said “the explanation of Jamhooriyat (democracy) in Kashmir was only 3 families, 87 MLAs [Members of Legislative Assembly] and 6 MPs [members of parliament] but Shri Modi has connected 30,000 people with Jamhooriyat by taking democracy to the village Panch, Sarpanch, BDC [Block Development Council] and Zilla Panchayat”.
The special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution was revoked by Parliament on August 5, 2019, and the former State was bifurcated into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. “Earlier due to Article 370, Gurjar-Bakarwal and Paharis could not get the benefit of reservation in education, elections and jobs, but now after the removal of Article 370, they will all get reservation,” it said.
“Under the rule of three families for 70 years, only ₹15,000 crore investment came into Jammu and Kashmir and Shri Modi has brought investment of ₹56,000 crore in just 3 years,” it claimed.
It said that earlier J&K was a “terrorist hotspot and today it has become a tourist hotspot”, adding that in the “Kashmir Valley, earlier maximum 6 lakh tourists used to visit every year, whereas this year till now (as on October 5, 2022), 22 lakh tourists have visited” and this had given employment to “thousands of youth.”
It stated there were no incidents of stone-pelting in J&K as the government was moving ahead on the path of development with firmness. “In J&K, 42,000 people succumbed to terrorism and in Delhi no one flinched an eyelid, but now under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there is complete control of the security forces on terrorism. There has been about 54% reduction in terrorist incidents, 84% in the deaths of security forces and about 22% (reduction) in recruitment of terrorists,” the Ministry said.
Under the Prime Minister’s Development Package in Jammu, nearly 63 projects had been built at a cost of ₹80,000 crore. Work on the ₹4,287-crore Kiru hydropower project was also under progress, it added.
(Manas Dasgupta)
