The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, on February 8 said that the security situation has “improved significantly” in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370.
The ministry also stated that a “large-scale” recruitment drive was conducted following the formation of J&K as a Union territory.
“The Government has a policy of zero tolerance against (militancy) and the security situation has improved significantly in Jammu and Kashmir,” Minister of State, MHA Nityanand Rai said while responding to a written query by MP Thirunavukkarasar in Lok Sabha.
The Congress MP had sought to know the number of people, including civilians and army personnel, who were killed and injured in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent militant attacks. Rai said as many as 30 civilians and 31 security personnel were killed and 221 others injured in Jammu and Kashmir in 2022.
“A total of 41 civilians and 42 security personnel were killed and 192 others were injured in 2021,” Rai said. “Seven civilians and 23 others were injured in the first month of 2023,” MoS said in his reply.
Rai said various measures have been taken by the government to protect the lives of the civilians in Jammu and Kashmir and, among others, it includes round-the-clock nakas at strategic points.
“The security arrangements through appropriate deployment and preventive operations involve identifying the strategic supporters of militants and initiating investigations to expose their mechanisms of aiding and abetting militancy,” Rai said.
“Other measures include identification of vulnerable spots to prevent militant attacks on civilians and sensitizing men on the ground about the issue and initiation of measures to defeat the machination of militants or their mentors,” the MoS added.
To another question on whether the government is considering providing special training to Village Defence Guards across Jammu and Kashmir to enable them to better counter the militant attacks, Rai said, “CRPF has imparted necessary training to 948 Village Defence Guard members in collaboration with District Police Rajouri from January 6 to January 25.”
Replying to a question regarding the government’s announcement of 50,000 jobs in various government departments for locals, following the revocation of Article 370, Rai said, “The Government of Jammu and Kashmir, has carried out several governance reforms, including in the area of recruitment in Government.”
“Large scale recruitment drive has been carried out after the formation of the Union territory in the most transparent manner,” Rai said in his reply. “33,426 vacancies of Gazetted/Non-Gazetted categories have been identified in the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, out of which 25,450 vacancies have been filled till December 2022,” he said.
Rai said recruiting agencies have also advertised 7,976 vacancies for recruitment. “The identification of vacancies in the Government and recruitment is a continuous and ongoing process. The same is taken up under Accelerated Recruitment Drive,” he said.
Rai said that the Jammu and Kashmir administration has taken various initiatives to bring down unemployment by implementing various self-employment schemes through different departments and by providing subsidised loans for the establishment of their sustainable income generation units.
“A number of self-employment schemes like Mission Youth, Rural Livelihood Mission, Himayat, PMEGP, Avsar, Tejaswani are being implemented for providing employment opportunities,” Rai said. “During the current financial year, 2,01,299 employments have been generated up to 21.01.2023 through such schemes,” he added.