The central government will leave no stone unturned for the overall development of Jammu and Kashmir, Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy told Lok Sabha

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said the Centre is fully committed to the overall development of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh.

He said under the 2015 Prime Minister’s Development Package, major development projects in Road, Power, Health, Tourism, Agriculture, Horticulture, Skill Development Sectors are already under various stages of implementation. Many flagship schemes including the individual beneficiary centric schemes are being proactively implemented by the government towards development of Jammu and Kashmir.

As reported by the Jammu and Kashmir administration, the agriculture operations are going on smoothly in the valley. During FY 2019-20 (up to January, 2020), 18.34 lakh MTs of fresh fruit (apples) have been dispatched. In the horticulture sector, under the Market Intervention Schemes (MIS) launched by the government of India in September 2019, for the first time, 15769.38 MTs of apples valued at Rs. 70.45 crores have been procured up to 28th January 2020, directly from the growers in Kashmir valley through National Agriculture Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).

This scheme has been extended up to 31st March, 2020. The sericulture sector recorded a production of 813 MTs of silk cocoon in the year 2019. During the 1st three quarters of FY 2019-20, handicrafts worth Rs. 688.26 crores were exported. Various tourism promotional campaigns have also been launched.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has informed that as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey, last conducted for FY 2017-18, by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation of government of India, the worker-population ratio for persons in the age group of 15 years and above for Jammu and Kashmir is 51 per cent.