'SAYING THAT internet was just used to watch “dirty films (gandi filmein)” in Jammu and Kashmir, NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat said on Saturday that suspension of services in the region, following the government’s decision to revoke J&K’s special status under Article 370 on August 5 last year, did not have a “significant” effect on the economy...'
'On November 19, 2019, Union minister for tourism Prahlad Singh Patel told parliament that, effectively, there wasn’t any significant impact on tourism in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on account of his government’s scrapping of Article 370 in August, and the prolonged lockdown, restrictions and detentions in the region since then...
'On key social indices — no poverty, zero hunger, quality education, gender equality, sustainable consumption and production — Gujarat is at the bottom of the ladder while the undivided state of Jammu and Kashmir is among the performing states. On gender equality, Jammu and Kashmir is among the top performing states — in a league of three, the other two being Himachal Pradesh and Kerala. Jammu and Kashmir outperforms the other two by a notch with a score of 53 while Himachal scored 52 and Kerala 51...'
'The continuing, four-month lockdown has laden the Kashmiri economy with a loss of Rs 17,878 crore in the face of severe restrictions in the Valley following the dilution of Article 370 and the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, a trade body said on Tuesday. Releasing a comprehensive sector-wise report on losses due to disturbance after the August 5 decision by the Centre, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) stated that the losses had been assessed based on Jammu and Kashmir’s GDP for 2017-18.
'...The Wire spoke to over a dozen minors, who had been detained for weeks, and their parents, to understand the result of the action on their future. Most of them opined contrary to the claims of the central government that younger Kashmiri will be better off now. Mustafa, while recalling the day he was picked by the J-K police, said, “They had cordoned me and were forcefully trying to bundle me inside the vehicle. While resisting, a cop hit me on the back of my neck and I fell unconscious”...'
'On October 22, days before the state of Jammu and Kashmir was officially split into two Union Territories, the state administration announced a new department of registration would be set up. It would function under the revenue department. The aim was to “provide hassle free and speedy service to the citizens for registration of documents pertaining to immovable property like sale, gift, mortgage, lease, bequest”, said a government press release on October 23. The governor had approved the creation of 464 new posts for the new department...
'An EU non-profit group researching disinformation campaigns has said that the controversial European parliamentarians’ visit to Kashmir is linked to a network of fake local media networks and think-tanks across the world. Last month, the Indian government allowed a group of Members of European Parliament, a majority of whom were from far-right parties, to visit Kashmir for the first time since the state was put under lockdown following the reading down of Article 370...
'Dilshaer Ali, 33, runs a small wood carving workshop in central Kashmir’s Budgam district. After the Valley shutdown to protest the dilution of Article 370 on August 5, Ali didn’t return to his hometown in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Many of Ali’s colleagues and associates from states like UP, Bihar, Orissa and Uttarakhand, who worked in different parts of Kashmir as woodcarvers, plumbers and painters, left the valley in the weeks after August 5. He, however, preferred to stay back with his family in Budgam...
'The government of Jammu and Kashmir, which is under the direct control of the Union government, has put over 450 people – including journalists, lawyers, businessmen and politicians – on a ‘no-fly list’, preventing them from travelling abroad, the Economic Times has reported. The move, which comes in the wake of the Centre’s decision to rescind J&K’s autonomy, is aimed at ensuring Kashmiri voices do not influence international public opinion.
'A rebellion is brewing within the ranks of the Press Council of India over the way chairman Justice C.K. Prasad has allegedly stymied all efforts by a fact-finding team to visit Jammu and Kashmir. Soon after the Union government ended the constitutional autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir and decided to bifurcate the state, the PCI on August 22 held a meeting and decided to send a fact-finding team to understand the impact of the communication lockdown on the press. However, even after three months, the team has still not been able to visit the state...'
