‘Modi Govt ensured J&K development without discrimination’
JAMMU: Describing Union Budget 2021-22 as a Vision Document for Post-COVID India, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that in the last nearly seven years the Modi government has ensured equitable development of Jammu & Kashmir without any regional discrimination whatsoever.
Addressing a meeting of stakeholders, representatives of Business and Trade organizations as well as opinion makers, Dr. Jitendra Singh said COVID-19 took the world by surprise but India under Narendra Modi succeeded in turning this adversity into opportunity because of the preemptive and decisive approach of Prime Minister who set the tone for the other countries of the world to follow. He said, this approach was primarily based on two aspects, first to raise the morale of the people and give them the confidence to build an Atma Nirbhar Bharat and second to follow a novel approach of rolling out a series of packages under the name of Atma Nirbhar Packages which could be otherwise described as a series of “Mini Budgets” before the General Budget.
The Budget presented on February 1st, said Dr Jitendra Singh, is therefore inspired by the realization that India is set to play a leading role as a frontline nation in Post-COVID world and therefore the thrust areas in the form of Six Pillars or priorities listed in the Budget are also aimed to prepare India to assume this leading role in the times to come. The Budget draft thus, he said, goes beyond the realms of an economic document and turns into a Vision Document for India which has entered into a milestone year on the threshold of observing the 75th year of Independence in 2022.
Emaphsizing that there has been no discrimination in sanction of development projects in Jammu& Kashmir during the last nearly seven years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Dr Jitendra Singh said, on the contrary, some of the projects which were simultaneously sanctioned for both Jammu as well as Kashmir regions have moved faster in Jammu region because conditions were not so compatible in the Kashmir Valley. In this context, he cited the example of AIIMS whose first session with 50 students is starting in Jammu, Biotech Industrial Park which is ready in Kathua and the first phase of Ring Road which has already been dedicated to the public in Jammu, while in Kashmir all these three projects have got delayed because of factors beyond control. He called upon all to liberate their mind-sets from the apprehensions based on the past experience of prolonged discrimination under previous governments.
For the first time in the history of independent India, said Dr Jitendra Singh, a departure was made from the past practice and the health sector was given highest priority with a 137% hike in the allocation for preventive, curative and wellbeing aspects of health. He said, it is not a small achievement that till a few months ago we were short of PPE kits and today we are providing Corona vaccine to other countries which has given us confidence to earmark Rs.35,000 crore for vaccine manufacturing alone.
Similarly, high prioritization of infrastructure development, said Dr. Jitendra Singh with allocation of over Rs.1.18 lakh crore is the highest ever which also includes several Express road corridors including the Delhi-Katra Expressway corridor to be built at a cost of Rs 3500 crore. The Railway Budget of over 1.10 lakh crore includes the Katra-Srinagar railway line at a cost of Rs. 4100 crore.
Giving credit to the Budget as being wholesome, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it has proved the analysts wrong who were predicting a high rise in prices and taxes. On the other hand, he said, there is not a single section of society which has not been benefited in one way or the other. While for youth the tax holiday for Start-Ups has been extended for one year, for the elder citizens above 75 years of age the requirement to fill Income Tax Return has been exempted and in addition to 8 crore gas connections under Ujjwala Yojana one crore more are going to be provided. For students, the Central University at Leh was a long pending demand and for Jammu & Kashmir gas pipeline will be a game changer.
On the occasion, Prof. Dipankar Sen from the Department of Economics, University of Jammu gave an academic overview while BJP President Ravinder Raina summed up the session and Prashant Jha made a powerpoint presentation. Mayor of Jammu City, Chandra Mohan Gupta presented Vote of Thanks. Arun Gupta, President Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry was also present among the other prominent participants.
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