Centrally sponsored schemes prospered lives of J&K people in last 3-years

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Centrally sponsored schemes envisaged benefiting common people are helping the residents of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) live a life which they yearned for 70-long years. The administration has been making intense efforts to create awareness about how the schemes devised by the Centre can benefit the common man in the Union Territory.

Camps are being organized to register the beneficiaries so that they get the benefits that stand reserved for them. Recently the divisional administration in Kashmir organized a mega registration camp for beneficiaries in Srinagar.

The purpose of the event was to create awareness and extend the benefits of the Centrally sponsored schemes to the general public.

According to the officials, over 600 beneficiaries under 133 schemes were extended benefits while hundreds of people were made aware of the various profitable schemes and assistance during the camp.

Meanwhile, officials of various departments, including Urban Local Bodies, Rural Development Department, Horticulture, Agriculture, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Sheep Husbandry, Rural Sanitation, Housing Board, Social Welfare, School Education, Rural Sanitation etc., took part in the campaign and informed the participants about facilities, subsidies and assistance provided to the eligible under various schemes which include machinery, capital, finances, etc.

Holding registration camps to create awareness about the schemes that could benefit the common man is an entirely new concept which has evolved in the Himalayan region after August 5, 2019–when the Centre announced its decision to abrogate J&K’s special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories.

Till 2019, people had to run from one office to another to even get information about the Centrally sponsored schemes, availing of benefits was a Herculean task. But now things have changed. Instead of people running from pillar to post the administration is itself reaching out to them with the schemes and is ensuring that the benefits trickle down to the deserving.

More and more people are being covered:

The optimal implementation of Centrally sponsored schemes during the past three years has made the lives of people in J&K easy. The statistics reveal that more and more people are being covered under these schemes in the Himalayan region.

Under the Mid-day Meal Scheme programme of the Government of India designed to provide a nutritious diet to school children, over 8.30 lakh children in J&K have benefited from this scheme.

Similarly, under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, a pioneering programme in the education sector of the country, 1588 information communication technology labs, 1423 computer-aided labs, and 803 vocational labs have been established in the Union Territory besides uniforms and textbooks worth Rs 67 crore have been provided to 7.8 lakh children.

Nearly 8.96 lakh beneficiaries were covered under Poshan Abhiyan, an overarching umbrella scheme to improve the nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers to prioritize the efforts of all stakeholders on a comprehensive package of intervention and services targeted on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.

Under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), a scheme meant to accord high priority to water conservation and its management, 54304 Hectares have been covered. The purpose of the scheme is to extend the coverage of irrigation ‘Har Khet ko pani’ and improve water use efficiency.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a multidimensional programme, is providing guaranteed wage employment, creates durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base of the rural households across the rural people here. According to the officials, 405.38 lakh person-days under the scheme were generated in 2021-22.

All the 22 districts, 4,171-gram panchayats and 7,565 villages in J&K have been declared open defecation free as per Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) SBM (G) guidelines.

Nearly 105 projects were completed under Smart City Projects aimed at transforming Jammu and Srinagar into modern, sustainable and economically vibrant cities with a dedicated focus on improving infrastructure and services besides increasing mobility.

Thousands of people in J-K have availed the benefits under Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY- housing for all), Mumkin, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana – SEHAT, National Social Assistance Programme, Umbrella Scheme for Development of Scheduled Castes, Umbrella Programme for Development of Scheduled Tribes, Umbrella Programme for Development of Minorities, Umbrella Programme for Development of other vulnerable groups.

Other schemes include Green Revolution, White Revolution, Blue Revolution, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, National Rural Drinking Water Mission, Urban National Health Mission (NHM) – National Rural Health Mission, National Urban Health Mission, Tertiary Care Programmes, Human Resources for Health and Medical Education, National AYUSH Mission, National Health Protection Scheme and much more.

Several incomplete road projects have been completed after 2019. Many roads stand widened due to the liberal funding provided by the Centre. The expansion work of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway has been carried out at a rapid pace thus reducing the travel distance between the two capital cities of J&K from 10 to 12 hours to 5 to 7 hours.

Soon after the scrapping of Article 370, a temporary provision in the Indian Constitution, the Rambagh-Jehangir Chowk fly-over, work which was pending for about six years, was completed and it was thrown open for the public in 2019.

Employment Awareness:

The Jammu and Kashmir District Employment and Counseling Centres (DE and CC) in Srinagar and Jammu have been organizing employment camps for the unemployed youth in colleges, universities and other institutions. These Centres are creating awareness about various self-employment schemes.

An online registration portal has been set up for job aspirants to get themselves registered. The curriculum vitae (CV) of the aspirants are sent to different companies and the ones who get selected land into getting their dream jobs.

Schemes play a vital role:

Centrally sponsored schemes are playing a vital role in the all-around development of Jammu and Kashmir. Till 2019, the benefits of these schemes didn’t trickle down to the common people in the Himalayan region as the so-called special status acted as a stumbling block.

The schemes are no longer getting caught in the official wrangles. The administration is making sure that the common people don’t remain deprived of the benefits which they couldn’t get for seven decades. The Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Home Affairs are directly monitoring the implementation of various programmes aimed at developing J&K.

The progress that J&K has witnessed since 2019 has proven beyond doubt that Article 370 was nothing more than an impediment between the people and development. The scrapping of this Article has brought the people of J-K closer to New Delhi and the Centre has not shied away from doing whatever it could to build “Naya Jammu and Kashmir.”

Ones who used to say that Article 370 is a shield have started acknowledging that it won’t come back as people of J&K don’t want it back.

The so-called special status provided privileges to the ruling class only and it had nothing to offer to the common man. J&K witnessing unprecedented development has shattered all the myths and fake narratives and has vindicated the decision of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi-led regime to abrogate Article 370.

It has proven to be a people-friendly decision aimed at making the lives of J-K people easy. (ANI)