Centre announces economic package of Rs 520 crore for employment in J&K

The Centre on Wednesday announced an economic package of Rs 520 crore for implementation of a scheme to provide self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities for poor households in the villages of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh.

The BJP government at the Centre announced the package as preparations started to hold bye-elections to fill 13000 vacancies in the panchayats in J&K. It was approved even as the leaders of the political parties opposed to the BJP in the Union Territory convened a meeting on Thursday.

Apart from the leaders of the National Conference and the Congress, it will be attended by the People’s Democratic Party’s president Mehbooba Mufti, who was released after 14-month-long detention on Tuesday.

Mufti agreed to attend the meeting, when NC leaders, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, met her at her residence in Srinagar on Wednesday.

The meeting is likely to be attended by all the political parties, which had signed the “Gupkar Declaration” – a resolution adopted at the end of an all-party meeting on August 4, 2019, a day before the Union Government had initiated the move to strip the then state of J&K of its special status and reorganize the state into two UTs.

The signatories of the “Gupkar Declaration” had unanimously resolved that they would be united in their effort to protect and defend the identity, autonomy and special status of J&K against all attacks and onslaughts. They had met again on August 22 this year and vowed to fight for the restoration of the special status of J&K.

The leaders of the NC, PDP, Congress and other parties, which had signed the Gupkar Declaration, are likely to attend the third meeting on Thursday to discuss the future course of action as well as the issue of participation in the forthcoming panchayat polls.

The BJP and the newly created Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party are opposed to the “Gupkar Declaration”.

The special allocation of Rs 520 crore for implementation of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) in J&K and Ladakh was approved by the Union Cabinet during a meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The allocation also came just ahead of the elections to the

Ladakh Autonomous Hill District Council (LAHDC) scheduled to be held on Friday.

The Union Government said that the special allocation would ensure sufficient funds under the mission to meet the requirement of J&K and Ladakh in line with its efforts to universalize all centrally-sponsored beneficiary-oriented schemes in the two UTs. This is based on the outcomes of the evaluation pointing to the potential of the mission to improve the quality of life of rural households and women's empowerment and given the changed circumstances in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh.

The special allocation for the DAY-NRLM followed an announcement of an economic package of Rs 1350 crore announced by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on September 19 to give a boost to tourism and other sectors hit by the restrictions enforced after the August 5, 2019 move by the Centre as well as earlier this year to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.