J&K’s Performance Assessment

Self-introspection is a necessary discipline for any Government, but it is never quite the same as an independent audit. That is precisely why the recent report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on J&K deserves close attention. The report is the considered judgement of a Parliamentary panel that has gone through the Union Territory's performance sector by sector.

The larger truth about J&K's transformation over the last few years is that it has run on two parallel tracks. One is the relentless containment of terrorism, which for more than three decades held the region hostage and stole from it the ordinary rhythms of life that the rest of the country took for granted. The other, quieter but equally consequential track has been the sustained push towards development. J&K lost decades to militancy; roads were not built, industries did not come up, schools shut down in fear, and hospitals ran short of doctors willing to serve in difficult postings. Bringing such a region up to par with the rest of India was never going to be an easy task, and no one pretended otherwise. The Committee's report affirms that the Government took up this challenge in a structured, step-by-step manner, and that the cumulative effect across sectors is now visible and measurable.

The infrastructure story alone illustrates the scale of change. Strategic highways, tunnels, all-weather connectivity and a modernised railway network through the Banihal-Baramulla section have altered the geography of accessibility in a mountainous terrain that has always punished poor planning. The approval of a Rs 1,667-crore Civil Enclave at Srinagar Airport, along with the Committee's suggestion to explore aviation facilities near Katra, points to ambitions that go beyond patchwork repair towards genuine long-term planning. Industrial development, too, has moved from promise to practice, with incentive disbursement under the New Central Sector Scheme drawing substantial investment and generating employment, even as the Committee rightly insists that MSMEs, start-ups and local entrepreneurship must remain the primary beneficiaries rather than an afterthought.

Healthcare has received some of the most consequential attention, with the establishment of AIIMS and expansion of GMCs strengthening tertiary care and medical education in ways that were unthinkable in the darker years of conflict. Renewable energy has emerged as another quiet success, with mega hydroelectric projects under construction alongside an aggressive push towards rooftop and utility-scale solar power, placing J&K among the leading UTs in this space. Tourism, too, has benefited from improved connectivity and new ropeway projects, while border area development has finally received the focused attention that regions long treated as peripheral had been denied for decades. Women and weaker sections have found dedicated welfare schemes, and sports infrastructure has been given a genuine push rather than token allocations.

The Committee has not held back in its assessment, as the value of a genuine audit lies equally in what it highlights and what it commends. The rise in secondary-level school dropout rates and the steep decline in enrolment ratios as students move up the educational ladder are flagged as areas of real concern. The Forest Rights Act implementation, where nearly 40,000 of over 46,000 claims have been rejected, has been singled out for a time-bound review to ensure due process was actually followed. Most seriously, the Committee has expressed grave concern over rising drug abuse among the youth, insisting that enforcement alone cannot solve what is fundamentally a public health and social challenge requiring prevention, rehabilitation and community engagement in equal measure.

The Committee's caution on the environment deserves particular emphasis. There is little merit in roads, tunnels and hydroelectric projects built in haste if they come at the cost of J&K's fragile ecology and seismic vulnerability. Geotechnical monitoring, slope stabilisation and climate-resilient engineering are not bureaucratic add-ons; they are the difference between infrastructure that lasts and infrastructure that becomes tomorrow's disaster. This report, then, is best read as a factsheet of a transformation still very much in motion. Much has been achieved, but much more remains. Sustained financial support and a guided roadmap will be essential in the years ahead. The journey to progress in Jammu and Kashmir is real, but it is, by the Committee's own honest reckoning, far from finished.