PR ENGLISH SHORTHAND DICTATIONS: ENGLISH SHORTHAND DICTATION-247

Hon. Speaker Sir, I rise to speak on the Budget of Jammu and Kashmir. This is a Budget for bureaucratic expenditure. As you know, the expenditure is mainly on Home Department and Police. Let me start by saying that I opposed the abrogation of Article 370 and I am still opposed to it. It was a wrong step for which the country will have to pay in future. I think that apart from fulfilling the agenda of the ruling party, it has no other meaning. The Finance Minister had mentioned in her speech that the concept of ‘One Nation, One Constitution, One Flag’ has been adopted. You have read the Budget. What is the meaning of this Budget being read¹²⁰ in Parliament? Why could this Budget not be presented by an elected Finance Minister of Jammu and Kashmir? What is¹⁴⁰ (1) there in this Budget that the elected representatives of Jammu and Kashmir could not speak on? This is deprivation of the rights of people of Jammu and Kashmir to have their own Government. I am totally opposing this undemocratic step. Sir, there is an article in the Kashmir Times about the situation today in Jammu and Kashmir. The per capita income in Jammu and Kashmir is recorded less than average in India; the literacy rate is recorded below the average in India; the unemployment among educated persons is recorded as 22 per cent against the average of 7 per²⁴⁰ cent in India; the electricity available to public for domestic purposes is dismal. What is the Finance Minister seeking to achieve through this Budget? Now, let me also say that this Budget is basically a revenue budget in which only²⁸⁰ 40 per cent is capital outlay and 60 per cent (2) is revenue expenditure that is, establishment expenditure, and other similar expenditure. With this, the situation of Jammu and Kashmir will not change. Sir, please see what the people of Jammu and Kashmir have to say about this. I was just reading some statement. The Jammu and Kashmir Chamber of Commerce said that the Budget has nothing significant for trade and industry; it is a big disappointment for traders and industrialists³⁶⁰ who are under mounting pressure due to restrictions and continuous setbacks in the last two years due to the pandemic and its related problems. The Government has announced certain benefits for the overall development of the country. But what is missing in the Budget is a big announcement for marginal traders who were hit by the pandemic and expecting a⁴²⁰ relief from the Modi Government.

Now, what is the problem from outside? We go as tourists to Jammu and Kashmir, but the people of Jammu and Kashmir remain poor. It (3) is because there is not so much scope for employment. Land is limited. Even after land reforms people have not received land. The other thing is handicrafts. That is solely⁴⁸⁰ dependent on tourists’ inflow to Jammu and Kashmir. Now, what has the Government successfully done to improve agriculture? Then comes floriculture and pomology. How much fillip have these things received? Jammu and Kashmir must have Assembly elections at the earliest. Your argument that you are doing delimitation is a bogus excuse. You must have elections to the Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir. You must have a proper representative Government in Jammu and Kashmir. You must have a way to keep⁵⁶⁰ the young people away from the path of militancy, to give them the offer of participating in the open elections, and also in giving them the jobs. The problems of unemployment and under-development are the biggest problems in Jammu and⁶⁰⁰ Kashmir. This Government has significantly failed in providing employment and (4) jobs to the people. You talk of big projects; you talk of building highways. That is not enough. Jammu and Kashmir lives in small hamlets. I would like to know whether those hamlets are connected. What happened to your promise of rehabilitating Kashmiri Pandits in the valley? You have not rehabilitated one single Pandit family in the Kashmir valley.

I stand here to participate in the debate on the Demands for Grants for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. I would just like to humbly ask the hon. Finance Minister. It is a request. This is not about right⁷⁰⁰ or wrong. All of us are very proud Indians and⁷²⁰ very committed to every State which is going through a difficult and challenging time, and Jammu and Kashmir is one of them. We are having an important discussion on the Budget of a certain important Union Territory. If you give us 24 hours in the future, I hope, we do (5) not have to discuss it again. You will have elections soon there. So, it will be discussed in their own Assembly. But if such circumstances do occur, we would appreciate if you give us a little more time so that we can have a more extensive debate. It is a humble request. I want to speak only on the Budget but I am too tempted to reply to the hon.⁸⁴⁰ Minister. I do understand that he comes from the State. He has lived there. He was born and brought up there. Like most Indians, Kashmir is a dream holiday for us also. I went to Jammu several times. As a family, we did not go abroad in those days. We travelled in India and Kashmir was the best holiday destination. I also happened to go with my family. I was not privileged enough to go to Kashmir on any Committee tour, but I did go with my husband and (6) my daughter to Srinagar. There are a few observations that I would like to bring to the notice of the hon. Minister.

I met a person who runs the Delhi Public⁹⁶⁰ School there. He belongs to a Kashmiri Pandit family. I am not going to make this an issue of Pandits⁹⁸⁰ or locals. Since he specifically spoke so much about them, I would like to bring something to his notice. He talked so much that this Government wants to do so much for Kashmiri Pandits and that so much injustice has been done to them. I would like to ask pointed questions to the hon. Minister. This Delhi Public School has five thousand children. Even through the most challenging times, this family did not leave. The family stayed, survived, and ran the Delhi Public School there. It was not the Government’s agency. They had faced attacks. They run their own buses.¹⁰⁸⁰ Today, what is this Government doing to them? The (7) Government is sending notices after notices. They are questioning them on who their teachers are. They are sending him notices on some fee structure and whether it is running efficiently. Is¹¹²⁰ this how you are helping Kashmiri Pandits? The hon. Minister was talking about the Kashmiri Pandits and the pain that he feels for them. Is this the justice that he talks about? He does not feel the pain of these five thousand children who are studying there today; he does not feel the pain of the teachers who are teaching there. This is one school which accommodates children with special needs. Is this how the Government wants to treat them?¹²⁰⁰ Is this their love for Kashmiri Pandits? Is it only limited to what happened 70 years ago? Those things happened before even I was born. How many years are you going to be a prisoner of the past? Just stop being a prisoner, live in the moment, and go (8) ahead. What are we going to do for our Kashmiri¹²⁶⁰ Pandits and people of Kashmir today and for their future? This is what we are debating on this Budget and I think, that is what this Budget document is all about.

The Minister talked so much about corruption. I am glad he did. Who does not want a corruption-free environment? The Governor has not been appointed by us. He was your Governor. He was the one who made an allegation. So, what has happened about that corruption after all these wonderful changes that you have made? It is so easy to sit on one side and criticise somebody. Really, why do you not go and see what the ground reality of Jammu and Kashmir is today? How many hotels have you built? Today, the hon. Tourism Minister was saying that all hotels are full. How many new hotels have you built?¹⁴⁰⁰ (9) How many roads have you built? I have been to Srinagar all my life. Nothing has changed. It is the same beautiful simple people of Jammu and Kashmir whom I met for years and years. So, I want to ask what big interventions your Government has made. The most worrisome number in this entire document is that the debt as a percentage of GDP is 53 per cent. It has been the highest ever. So, this Budget is very worrisome. There are so many sectors where the Government is claiming that there are so much improvements. The Budget tells a different story. In the power sector, the same numbers have come and the same projects have come, about which all the earlier speakers have mentioned. For the last six years we have been hearing the same thing. (10)