Manufacturing important for J&K: Jitendra Singh

NEW DELHI: Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister (State) of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions, Government of India, said that the move from agricultural to manufacturing is crucial for Jammu and Kashmir, which has taken specific initiatives toward rapid economic growth.

While speaking at a workshop on urban governance on Wednesday, he said that small and medium towns in the union territory (UT) will play a major role in developing municipal infrastructure as a facilitator to economic activities, particularly in the areas of processing agro-produce, weaving industry, and development of IT services. According to a statement released by the Personnel Ministry, these efforts will result in a transformation in the state’s economic profile and the creation of more manufacturing and service jobs.

“We have established urban local bodies as per the 74th Constitution Amendment Act,” Singh said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has big ambitions for J&K’s development.

Singh stated that in 2011, J&K has a 27 per cent urban population, which presents a difficulty in moving towards the halfway mark of urbanisation, which will require more focus on industries and investment in the next decades. The municipal infrastructure and its elected leaders will play an important role in this journey, as they form the grass root leaders and emphasizes on bottom-up leadership. According to him, states with higher levels of urbanisation have higher per capita income than those with low levels of urbanisation, such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha.