As the Modi government took the bold decision to render Article 370 ineffective and to bifurcate the state of J&K into two union territories, the left liberal cabal is rattled and has been desperately looking for arguments against the move. Siddharth Suryanarayan, an actor who is known for his roles in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films has now made a silly statement over development of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. “#Kashmir is economically superior to several #BJP governed states including the largest one in the country with #AjayBisht in charge. I don’t understand what prowess they want to share with Kashmiris. Sabka wishwash. Kalyug,” tweeted Siddharth.
https://twitter.com/Actor_Siddharth/status/1159496167404658689
Ironically, Siddharth played the role of Bhagat Singh in Rakesh Omprakash Mehra directed Rang De Basanti. The actor has clearly dumped national interests in the bin. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the abolition of Article 370 will bring economic development in J&K and since then many publications have carried a story on how the state is more developed compared many North Indian states.
Rukmini S, a Chennai based data journalist who regularly writes for The Hindu, HuffPost, Scroll, and ThePrint published an article along the same lines with the title ‘Data doesn’t support Amit Shah’s claim that Article 370 deprived J&K of development,’ stressing on the socio-economic indicators of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Hindu also published an article with the title ‘Is Jammu and Kashmir underdeveloped as stated by Amit Shah?’ written by Vignesh Radhakrishnan argued that J&K is better off compared to other north Indian states in Human development Index and many other development indicators. Some other publications like Times of India carried story along similar lines.
The writer wrote an article along similar lines on March 1, 2019, when Raghuram Rajan the liberal icon and former governor of RBI had claimed the economic condition is very poor and Kashmiri youth is frustrated. “Before calling economic condition responsible for the alienation of Kashmiri youth, Raghuram Rajan needs a lesson in some hard data. Overall the state of health, education and other socio-economic condition of J&K is better than many other well-off states of the country,” wrote this writer.
The full article is available on the following link:
https://tfipost.com/2019/03/raghuram-rajan-kashmir-01/
The state of Jammu & Kashmir is better off than many North Indian states, there is no doubt about that. But we need to examine why the state is better off and at what cost. I had written another article almost 5 months ago on March 1, 2019, with the title ‘Kashmir: Most pampered of all states in India’, the article explains how J&K gets most of its revenue from central government and does not have the level of infrastructure equivalent to these massive funds.
https://tfipost.com/2019/03/jammu-and-kashmir-revenue-01/
The socio-economic condition of J&K is better than many other well-off states of the country but the more important fact is that much of the money for this expenditure is coming from the pocket of the central government. JJ&K is one of the most pampered states of the country with 73.6 percent of the state’s total revenue from central government while the state generates only 26 percent of total revenue.
The total revenue receipts of the state for the fiscal year 2018-19 is 64,269 crore rupees. Out of this revenue, J&K’s own taxes (11,194 crore rupees) and non-taxes (5,761 crore rupees) are estimated at 16,955 crore rupees. The total grants from central government to the state is 34,330 crore rupees and its share in central taxes is 12,984 crore rupees. This means in the fiscal year of 2018-19, J&K is expected to get 47,314 crore rupees from central government. This means 73.6 percent of the state’s total revenue comes from central government while the state generates only 26 percent of total revenue.
The central government is going to transfer 39,430 rupees per person to the state during 2018-19 only through grants and devolution of taxes. This is in addition to railway, roads, and tourism and power projects by the central government in the state. The infrastructure created by the armed forces for their own movement comes as extra. There are more than 4,70,000 security force personnels deployed in the state of J&K which adds to its consumer base for the locally manufactured products. As GST is a consumption-driven indirect tax, the consumption by four lakh and seventy thousand security forces personnel helps in the state’s GST collection.
As per an article published by The Hindu on July 24 written by TCA Sharad Raghavan, J&K gets 10% of all central funds with only 1% of the population. Therefore, while it is true that the state of J&K is better developed that many North Indian states, the other side of the story is that this development is due to funds given by the central government and not due to efficient exploitation of resources and good governance by Kashmiri politicians. Ja&K has also inherently been a prosperous region since before its accession with India but that does not hide the fact that Jammu and Kashmir suffers acute joblessness and the massive amount of funds doled out by the central government at the cost of other poorer states, have not translated into the expected level of infrastructure in the region which means it fell into the hands of the few in the ruling circles. Corruption has been rampant in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the state’s potential remains largely untapped. The left-liberal media establishment and people like Siddharth Suryanarayan have desperately chosen to hide the other side of the story to peddle a particular narrative.