Six months after the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its special status and bifurcated into two federally administered territories, the government now plans to depute a team of ministers to disseminate developmental policies in the region.
India's federal Home Ministry on Wednesday announced it has asked a team of federal ministers to visit different districts of the territory between 18 and 24 January, reported The Indian Express.
In a letter forwarded to B V R Subrahmanyam, Jammu and Kashmir administration’s most senior official, junior Home Minister G Krishan Reddy said the ministers would use their week-long stay in the region to disseminate “information about the importance of government policies with regard to the overall development of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The ministers have been given “background material” on developmental activities “through email”, home ministry sources said.
Kashmir has been under heightened security after Article 370 was abrogated in August. The government has now lifted almost all restrictions, including communications, as it claimed “normalcy has been restored” in the region.
New Delhi conducted a tour for envoys of 15 countries to Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir last week to apprise them of the situation. The envoys interacted with top government functionaries, local leaders and journalists.
Kashmir has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan ever since both countries gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947, as they both control it partially but claim the whole region in full.
