Ankush Verma
On the eve of the anniversary of nullification of special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, the government of the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir has claimed 100 per cent achievement in seven welfare schemes including the major Central schemes as Saubhagya and PM Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). Other major schemes where the administration has claimed a 100% achievement include UJALA, Mission Indradhanush (Jammu), Aspirational Districts, Swachh Bharat Mission and Integrated Social Security (State Scheme).
The data released by the Jammu and Kashmir government assumes significance as the region completes its one year of abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
It is also supposed to send positive signals across the sections of the society about the work being done after the revocation of the special status of the region. At the same time, the released data highlights the massive impetus being given to the welfare schemes by the current government for the benefit of the poor and marginalized sections of the society.
Welfare Schemes Witnessed 100% success rate
As per the data released by the Government, under the Saubhagya scheme a total of 3,57,405 beneficiaries were covered in the last one year.
The Saubhagya Scheme or Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana is an Indian government’s project to provide electricity to the households. The project was announced in September 2017 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, at the time of the launch, had said that the aim was to complete the electrification process by December 2018.
The data further maintains that the PM Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), another Central government scheme, connected 12,60,685 beneficiaries among the 1.25 crore of the population of the regions of the erstwhile state (Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh). Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched by Prime Minister Modi on May 1, 2016 to distribute 50 million Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) connections to women of Below Poverty Line families. A massive budgetary allocation was also made for this ambitious welfare scheme of the Government.
A total of 15,90,873 beneficiaries were covered under UJALA scheme or Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 1, 2015, replacing the “Bachat Lamp Yojana”. The project is spearheaded by the Energy Efficiency Services Limited. In non-subsidized LED lamp distribution projects, this program is considered the world’s largest.
Under Mission Indradhanush (Jammu), the data reveals a total of 1,353 children and 381 pregnant women were vaccinated. Mission Indradhanush (MI) was launched to ensure that no child suffers from any vaccine-preventable disease.
Integrated Mission Indradhanush (IMI) IMI-1.0 was launched in October 2017 to reach every child under two years of age and those pregnant women have been left uncovered under the routine immunization programme. The IMI 2.0 was launched with the aim to achieve a target of full immunization coverage.
Aspirational Districts, another prominent Government scheme, under Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (Baramulla and Kupwara) has so far covered 2,259 children and 320 women who have been vaccinated.
Under the Central government’s flagship Swachh Bharat Mission or Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Clean India Mission, Jammu and Kashmir have achieved the target of 100 per cent open defecation-free (ODF). The mission was a country-wide campaign from 2014 to 2019, to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management in urban and rural areas in India.
The Integrated Social Security Scheme (ISSS) of Jammu and Kashmir has a total of 5, 92,333 beneficiaries. In May 2020, J&K administrative Council, in a meeting chaired by Lieutenant Governor G.C. Murmu, accorded sanction to the extension of coverage of the scheme to transgenders to provide them Rs. 1,000 every month. The scheme so far extended a monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 to the destitute, senior citizens, widows, divorcees, orphans and orthopedically challenged people, who either have a meager income or no source of livelihood.
The Government believes that after witnessing the enormous infrastructural developments and massive impetus given on the welfare schemes, the people have finally realized the futility of their initial misgivings about the abrogation of Article-370. |
