Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

Press statement by Media Advisor on the visit of Prime Minister to Jammu and Kashmir on 7th and 8th June 2010

The Prime Minister made a two day visit to Jammu & Kashmir from 7th June to 8th June 2010.

The Prime Minister presided over the 5th convocation of Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology at SKICC, Srinagar. In his convocation address, the Prime Minister lauded Dr Shah Faisal on his achievement in topping the Civil Services Examination of the UPSC. He assured that in cooperation with the state government, we will make all possible efforts to create employment opportunities in J&K.

The Prime Minister mentioned that three Round Table Conferences had been convened, with participation from many civil society participants, and other political groups. He noted that the recommendations of these deliberations are being implemented in a step-wise manner. The Prime Minister mentioned that the process of talks could be extended. The Government of India is willing to talk to all those who are willing to shun violence.

The Prime Minister noted complaints related to human rights. He made it clear that the "Government policy is to protect human rights of the people even when dealing with terrorism. The security forces in J&K have been strictly instructed to respect the rights of civilians. We will act to remove any deficiency in the implementation of these instructions."

Later in the evening, the Prime Minister had interaction with representatives of various political parties. Among these were delegations from National Conference, Indian National Congress, PDP, BJP, Panther's Party, Awami National Conference, J&K Democratic Party (Nationalist), the CPI(M), and the CPI. On Tuesday morning he met the Sikh community, house boat owners, artisans, saffron growers, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and hoteliers, and many others.

The Prime Minister also took a review meeting of the developmental activities in the state, with the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues, and senior officials. Sh Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, and Sh Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare also participated in the deliberations. The Prime Minister noted that the state is doing well on flagship programmes. He drew the state government's attention to unutilized funds and also impressed upon them the need to move forward and hold elections for the local bodies and panchayats.

The Chief Minister gave a detailed presentation on the economic situation, plan performance, financial delivery, and on the progress in certain specific sectors like energy, transport, and health. He underlined his government's commitment to third party / independent scrutiny in project implementation as part of a larger principle of accountability and transparency. He assured the Prime Minister that local body elections would be held in October / November 2010.

In his closing remarks, the Prime Minister complimented the Chief Minister for providing dynamic leadership to the state administration. In particular, he observed "it is heartening to note that the state government has gone in for tariff-based bids even for hydro projects."

While the Prime Minister assured the Chief Minister of financial support for the state government, including on account of difficulties of implementation of the 6th Pay Commission award, Dr Manmohan Singh expressed his disappointment that a section of the state government employees often respond to bandh calls by separatist groups, and fail to discharge their duties in the service of the people of the state.

Among many assurances, the Prime Minister ordered for restoration of cuts amounting to about Rs 400 crores in the state plan outlay for 2009-10. He also announced that Central Government had decided to dispense with the cutback of Rs 691 crores in this year's outlay in the reconstruction Plan. The Prime Minister mentioned that the Ministry of Rural Development will assist in setting up of Self Help Groups of women belonging to Gujjar and Bakkerwal communities. The Ministry of Tribal welfare will provide additional allocation to take forward the schemes that use local community based volunteers for delivery of health and education to nomadic groups like gujjars and bakkerwals. Three Cultural Centres including folk museums, auditoria etc, will be set up by the Ministry of Culture for the pahadi, gujjar and bakkeral communities, along with computer laboratories in selected schools for these groups.

The Prime Minister concluded that the Central Government will do all that it can to support the state government. He added that "things have improved considerably, fund utilization is better, but much more remains to be done"

Just before leaving for New Delhi, the Prime Minister had a meeting with the Chief Minister. No aides were present.