Srinagar (Jammu and Kasmir): The Central government has said that 64,827 Kashmiri Pandit families had to leave the Valley and settle in Jammu, Delhi and some other parts of the country after the insurgency began in 1990. According to the annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for 2020-21, 14,091 civilians and 5,356 security force personnel were killed during militancy in Jammu and Kashmir between the 1990s, when militancy first reared its head in the valley, and 2020.The report said that besides Kashmiri Pandits, some Sikh and Muslim families, too, migrated from the Valley, and 1,054 families from the hilly areas of Jammu migrated to the Jammu plains.
The report said that as per the records of registration available with the relief and migrant commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir, at present 43,618 registered Kashmiri migrant families are settled in Jammu, 19,338 families in Delhi and NCR, and 1,995 families in a few other states and the UTs in the country. The report said that to resettle Kashmiri migrants in the Valley, the MHA has approved 3,000 jobs in the Jammu and Kashmir government under Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Package - 2008, and an additional 3,000 jobs under the Prime Minister’s Development Package - 2015 (PMDP-2015).
"Construction of 6,000 transit accommodations at an outlay of Rs 920 crore has also been approved by the MHA. Under the scheme, 1,025 flats have been completed or substantially completed and 1,488 are under the construction for the accommodation of these 6,000 Kashmiri migrant employees in the Valley." The report said that a total of 2,546 terror incidents took place in Jammu and Kashmir from 2014 to 2020, in which 481 security personnel, 215 civilians, and 1,216 militants were killed.
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"There were 1,776 infiltration attempts from across the border to Jammu and Kashmir between 2014 and 2020, of which 685 were successful," it said. The annual report stated under the PMDP-2015, financial assistance of Rs 5.50 lakh is also being disbursed to the 36,384 families, which were displaced from Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), Chhamb, and Niabat and had settled in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Central government has approved similar financial assistance for the inclusion of those Displaced Persons (DP) families. "Out of the 5,300 DP families of PoJK, 1,947 initially had opted to move outside the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, but later returned and settled there. A total of Rs 1,371.13 crore has been disbursed to 31,670 beneficiaries till December 31, 2020," it said.
The reports show that Jammu and Kashmir has recorded an impressive improvement in sex ratio at birth from 923 to 976 while neonatal mortality rate and infant mortality rate are on the decline. "The Neonatal Mortality Rate (NNMR) of J&K has reached single digit at 9.8 per 1,000 live births, recording a 13.3 points decrease and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has declined to 16.3 with a decrease of 16 points.” "Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) has declined to 18.5 with a decrease of 19 points and sex ratio at birth has also recorded an improvement from 923 to 976,” it said.
"Antenatal check-ups (ANC) of pregnant mothers in the first trimester have increased from 76.7 per cent to 86.6 per cent and institutional births have increased from 85.5 per cent to 92.4 per cent,” it added. "Percentage of fully immunized children (between 12 and 23 months) against vaccine-preventable diseases has increased to 96.5 per cent, which is the second-highest in the country and life expectancy at birth in J&K has reached 74 years, which is highest in the country after Kerala and Delhi, while the national average is 69.4 years,” it said.
