‘Militancy-hit’ Baramulla, Kupwara among 115 districts for ‘rapid transformation’

By Nisar Dharma

Srinagar, Mar 20: Identified as ‘militancy-hit’, Baramulla and Kupwara are among the 115 backward districts chosen by Government of India for ‘Rapid Transformation’ by 2022.
Official documents accessed by The Kashmir Monitor show that the north Kashmir districts were selected because they were “affected by terrorism”.
The Government of India has appointed a “Prabhari Officer”, who, documents say, would “act as bridge between District, State and New Delhi, to implement the scheme, which is a significant step towards realisation of the Prime Minister’s vision for creation of a New India by 2022.”
“They (Prabhari officers) are to guide district administration in making district action plan and to implement the same so that the concerned district may first try to catch up with the best district in the concerned State and then aspire to become among the India’s best districts,” read the documents.
For Kupwara, documents show, Atul Dulloo has been chosen as the Prabhari officer. Dulloo is a 1989 batch IAS officer of J&K cadre, who is on Central Deputation as Joint Secretary, Rural Development Department, Government of India.
Similarly, Arun Kumar Mehta, another IAS officer who is currently Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, is the Prabhari officer for Baramulla.
On the state’s end, Sarmad Hafiz, Secretary Tourism Department and Farooq Ahmad Lone, CEO ERA, have been nominated as the Nodal Officers for Kupwara and Baramulla, respectively.
“They will coordinate and monitor the Rapid Transformation of these backward districts of the State and carry out day to day interaction with the Prabhari officers,” the official documents show.
J&K, interestingly, has not signed any Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GoI as documents reveal that “there is no requirement of formally entering into a MoU as States are already working in close partnership with the central Government.”
Lone told The Kashmir Monitor that under ‘Rapid Transformation’, the indicators in health, education, drinking water, agriculture, animal husbandry, employment generation, and skill development need to be improved so that they match up with the national numbers.
In November, when ‘Rapid Transformation’ was rolled out, Home Secretary of India, Rajiv Gauba said that “if these districts are transformed, there would be tremendous improvement in the internal security environment of the country”.