After 34 Yrs Muharram
Indian soldier , who could lay down his life to protect the people but…, could not construct even a small house there. An immense change has come now in this regard. Now 1.25 crore people of J&K have been empowered under PM Modi. The refugees who have come from west Pakistan had all the rights as citizens in other Indian states but J&K. Now they have been empowered. Secondly, J&K girls who got married outside the state lost the right…now they are empowered, so the Kashmiri Pandits have become empowered.”
The Backward Classes had quotas in jobs etc in other states but not J&K. Now they have got this and even the tribals of J&K and about 14 lakh pahadis also got quota.
Sinha added, “On the economic front, activities have started in Jammu and Kashmir and also the tourist influx has increased. The G20 also saw an increase in foreign tourists by 2.5 times.”
While talking about the changing face of Kashmir, Sinha stressed that “the state tax revenue is better than the average of other states, while in terms of infrastructure development today, Rs 1.5 lakh crore worth of highways and tunnels is going on in the state. Additionally, the state is working at a speed of 10 times more than the national average in completing projects.”
He said, “The land laws in the state were regressive but now we have digitised the land records which are available in three languages namely Hindi, English and Urdu.” Similarly while talking about the agricultural development of the state, Sinha said that stress has been laid on a “holistic agriculture development plan after which the state is fifth in terms of the earnings of farmers”.
To a question on peace in the Valley, the LG said, “Today, the youth in Kashmir play guitar on the banks of Jhelum river at 11 pm. Kashmir has changed a lot after the removal of Article 370. Peace can no longer be bought here. There is good governance here. Pattharbazi is a thing of the past.”
He recalled that a group came to meet him and thanked me saying that they got their graduation degree in three years against seven years.”This is because earlier on the direction of Pakistan, things used to remain shut after bandh calls given by the neighbours. It is history, as now Pakistan does not give bandh calls but the J&K government releases the education and religious calendar and not Pakistan.”
“There has been a huge reduction in terror activities in J&K and now the youth of J&K are taking out Tiranga Yatra and shouting slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai. This change many will not understand. Even the deployment of forces has reduced a lot in the past. These are some indications that things are changing. Now you can enjoy nightlife in the state.”
He added, “The government is trying to end the entire terror ecosystem. Soon we will be able to end it completely and people will see that J&K has been rid of this problem. Earlier, we used to buy peace in the Valley by talking