Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha has said the new administration had changed “regressive” laws to boost the economy in the union territory, especially concerning farmers.
His comments come in the backdrop of alleged targeted killings of minorities and the subsequent crackdown on militants.
Sinha in an interview to News 18 said the figures were proof of development in the UT since the abrogation of article 370 two years ago. He gave the example of saffron farming in Kashmir.
“We have achieved the target of doubling the income of farmers here. They earn three times now. Earlier, permission had to be taken from the revenue minister to apply for small things. We changed it. There was also a law that farmers who had less than four kanals were not allowed to do plantation. We ended that as well. We have changed many regressive laws, which were against farmers,” the L-G said.
Sinha further said the administration had introduced high density plantation that had improved the economy of Jammu and Kashmir. “We gave compensation to farmers who suffered losses during floods,” he added.
Talking about other social indicators, he said child death ratio in the Valley had also improved by leaps and bounds. “In 2015-16, child death ratio was 23.1 per cent. We have reduced it to 9.5% in 2020,” he added.
The Narendra Modi-led government allotted Rs 46,900 crore for roads, and that was reflecting in the density of national highways is now about 2200 km, Sinha said. “Back in 2014, it wasn’t as much even after including Ladakh. There used to be seven national highways, including Ladakh. Now there are 11, excluding Ladakh. The PM allotted Rs 46,900 crore in the road sector,” he added.
