J&K has come under the direct radar of the Home Ministry after violence marred the by-election to assembly seats on April 9 last. Though tension had escalated in the valley since July last in the aftermath of the liquidation of a HuM commander in South Kashmir, it gained momentum with the announcement by the Election Commission that election to the vacant seats of the Legislative Assembly as well as the Srinagar Parliamentary seat would held as scheduled. The weakness of separatists and secessionists lies in their boycotting the election process though without any success. As such, in fresh advisory from their external handlers, the seditionists decided that the elections should be disrupted with all force at their disposal so that they could tell the world that the elections in J&K are all manipulated. Thus, the seditionists intensified their subversive activities and tried to make elections a failure. The turnout was the lowest ever. Fuel was added to fire when the NC candidate for Srinagar Parliamentary seat broke all norms of secular and democratic dispensation by which he had been swearing for years at end, suddenly pandered to Islamic religious card and began speaking the language of a communal and radical activist shunning the previously created secular aura around him. The Election Commissioner did not find anything wrong with his playing religious card in the election and in consequence, he won a majority vote. Will he swear by Indian Constitution at the oath taking ceremony or by the sharia law is yet tube seen.
On 24th of April Chief Minister Mehbooba met with the Prime Minister and repeated her rhetoric of talking peace. She got a rebuff and had to renter the shell. Peace is the pre-requisite of talks and she could not defend herself against total inability of her Government to contain violence among the youth and restore normalcy in the State. Even then, the Home Ministry held two length meetings first pertaining to the security of the State and the second pertaining to the developmental plans and the implementation of Prime Ministers 80,000 crore Developmental Package announced by the PM during his official visit to Srinagar in 2015. In a high power meeting at the North Block chaired by the Home Minister and top bureaucrats of at least half a dozen Central Ministries to assist him, and the State represented by the top bureaucrats, review was made of the entire development package and detailed information was provided project-wise and sector-wise. An official handout issued tonight by the Press Information Bureau said: that the Package consists of 63 projects concerning two dozen Ministries of Government of India and has an outlay of Rs 80,068 crore. Out of Rs 80,068 crore outlay of PMDP, Rs 61,112 crore have already been sanctioned by the various Ministries of Government of India (more than 75 per cent). Rs 19,961 crore have already been released to the implementing agencies including the State Government which is more than 25%. Home Minister made a detailed presentation of major development project in various sectors like tourism, power, road connectivity, health, education, sports, etc. A close look at these details will reveal that the Government of India has made in-depth study of all developmental projects and the benefits that would accrue to the people of the State. The important point we would like to touch upon is that within one year and half, the GOI has released 19.961 crore rupees out of the 80,000 crore rupees of the PMDP. This is a record and the State has no justification to say that funds have not been released in time. The entire matter gets blocked at one simple point and that is non-submission of Utilization Certificate by the State Government. The Centre has made it clear to the State Government that no funds will be released unless UC is submitted. This is not true only in the case of PMDP but in respect of other projects previously sanctioned. The people of Kashmir valley should, therefore, understand that the GOI is doing more than what it would normally do to boost development in the State and if there is any shortcoming it is with the State Government.
After the unrest that started last year and continues till date despite appeals by the State and the Central Government to see reason, there is definitely a shift in the policy of the GOI towards the situation in the State. Firstly, there is widespread feeling among the policy planners in New Delhi that the jinx of blackmailing to which the Kashmiris have been dragged by the local leadership has to be broken. The second shift is that of accountability for the vast developmental funds that have been provided to the State. Unfortunately, previous Governments in New Delhi have been turning away their face whenever the opposition asked for accounting the huge funds provided to J&K. That chapter is closed and obviously, those habituated to loot the exchequer will try to create mischief. If Kashmiri youth can understand how they are being misled by local leadership, they will find that there are vast avenues opening on them by adopting the right attitude to the current situation.
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