New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Friday said there is a conducive environment for development in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.
Addressing both Houses of Parliament assembled together in the Lok Sabha chamber, Murmu noted that the Lok Sabha and assembly elections were conducted in a peaceful manner in Jammu and Kashmir and the people deserve commendation for this achievement.
“After the abrogation of Article 370, there is a conducive environment for development in Jammu & Kashmir,” she said.
The President said the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project has been completed, connecting the nation from Kashmir to Kanyakumari through a railway line.
“Under this ambitious project, the Chenab Bridge has been constructed, which is the highest railway bridge in the world,” she said.
Murmu said India’s first rail cable-stayed bridge, the Anji Bridge, has been completed and the work on the Shinkun La tunnel was also progressing successfully.
“Upon completion in the near future, it will be the world’s highest tunnel, ensuring year-round connectivity between Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh,” she said.
In 2019, the government scrapped Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir was carved out with a state legislature and elections were held there in 2024 after five years of President’s Rule.
The President also referred to the Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP), which has been launched in the country’s first villages located along the border.
The central government approved the VVP as a centrally sponsored scheme on February 15, 2023, with a financial outlay of Rs 4,800 crore from 2022-23 to 2025-26 for comprehensive development of the select villages in 46 blocks in 19 districts abutting the northern border.
‘Simultaneous polls, Waqf amendment critical issues’
President Droupadi Mumru on Friday listed simultaneous polls and amendments to the Waqf law as “critical issues” on which the Narendra Modi government has made “swift progress” and described the law on reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies as a significant step in empowering women.
In her address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the beginning of the Budget session, she said the government has made “swift progress on critical issues like ‘one nation, one election’ and the Waqf Act amendment.”
The bill that lays down a mechanism to hold simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies is being examined by a joint committee of Parliament.
A separate joint committee of the two Houses on Thursday submitted its report to the Lok Sabha Speaker, paving the way for the government to bring amendments to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill introduced in the lower house last year.
“My government firmly believes in empowering the nation through women-led development. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (women’s reservation Act), which provides (33 per cent) reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, is a significant step in this direction,” she told the MPs.
She also referred to the decade-long exercise of the government to weed out irrelevant statutes.
“The government has conducted an extensive review of laws enacted before the Constitution came into force. Many laws are being repealed or amended to ensure that the entire system can meet the current social and economic challenges,” Murmu said.
So far, the government has repealed more than 1,500 obsolete laws, the president pointed out.
By removing colonial-era laws, a ‘Nyaya Sanhita’ has been introduced in place of the Penal Code, she recalled.
