Since 1990, tens of thousands of people who left Kashmir are living the life of migrants at various places outside the Valley. For the government it is a consistent process of managing their respectful survival, BILAL HANDOO offers basic statistics about state and status of the migrantas.
POPULATION
Available official records suggest that the migrant families are increasing. In 1996-97, when a formal survey was carried out by the State Relief Organization for the first time after 1990 when migration took place, their number was at 27619 families including 25551 Hindus, 412 Muslims, 1578 Sikhs and 78 others.
The numbers continued increasing.
In 2001-02, the survey suggested that there was massive increase in the number of Muslim migrant families which stood at 2107 in a total of 34216 families. In 2008-09 when the overall families were at 37398, the Muslim migrants accounted for 2627 families. For the first time, since then, the number of Muslim migrant families has fallen to 2233 families as the overall number is at 40857.
Interestingly, the Election cell in the SRO established in the year 2000 revealed that the number of migrant voters for 2002 and 2008 stood at 112058 and 72793 respectively. The number of migrant electorates for the year 1996 is not readily available in the organization.
Jammu has other migrants as well. Presently 1054 migrant families who have come from various areas of Jammu region are registered under relief category. But they are not necessarily availing all the benefits as the migrants from Kashmir are entitled to.
RELIEF
The migrants are entitled to various amenities under different relief categories. While basic relief in kind including food grains, fuel and sugar is being given to all the registered families, the migrant families having one or more members serving the state as employees do not get any cash assistance. The monthly cash relief has been reviewed many times and recently chief minister has recommended to the central government that the migrant families should get Rs 10,000 a month, a proposal yet to be approved by the central Home Ministry.
Since 1989-90, official data suggests, the government has dispensed an amount of Rs 1194.97 crore on the migrants for the cash assistance, food and other basic facilities.
Details suggest that Rs 989.89 crore stands spent as cash assistance, Rs 147.96 crore has gone to the payment on their free rations, Rs 40.68 crore has been booked on the basic infrastructure facilities and Rs 16.43 crore was spent on creating various civic action programmes.
This excludes the expenditure that is being booked for creating various colonies in Jammu and transit accommodation at various places in Kashmir. It also excludes more than Rs 1618.40 crore financial package that Prime Minister announced for return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants. The creation of 3000 jobs within the government – of which the only 1441 of the 2148 appointed individuals joined services, is also outside this expenditure.
PROPERTIES
While leaving Kashmir, the migrants left behind a lot of immovable property. These included 3001 structures which were alienated under the provisions of the J&K Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, protection and restraint on distress sales) Act 1997.
The same survey suggested that the migrants have left 16896 kanals and 114 marlas of land as were alienated in 1997. The highest was in south Kashmir Islamabad where 3724 kanals were recorded and the lowest was in Bandipore were only 198 kanals existed. The actual land left behind is much more but the listed in this copy is the alienated part only. Alienation for the rest if the land is still in progress, officials in the revenue ministry say.
In Kulgam district, 2381 kanals and 07 marlas of migrant land exists. Of the 734 structures in this district, 86 are intact as 648 were gutted. In Bandipore, of 71 structures, 44 are intact and 16 are damaged.
TEMPLES
Total number of temples in the Valley is 436, out of which 228 are intact while 208 are damaged. Land under temples is 1216 kanals and 1337 marlas excluding 56 temples of Baramulla and 47 temples of Pulwama whose detail is yet to be recorded. South Kashmir Islamabad has the highest number of temples and most of the land.
Dr brother i am muslim migrant kindly help all migrant pandht muslim sikh it is your most help for us
present day muslims in kashmir are converted HINDUS. so i tell muslims of kashmir to call their brothers back. otherwise history shall not forgive them. after 100 years history shall tell that brother had killed brother. bye bye
Does statistics change any ground reality that people have been uprooted from their home and forced to liive like aliens,refugees and second class human beeings in other states. Is it not the Kashmiri poltical masters who are responsible for race and class bias, isn’t it in a state were history of hundreds years will prove the cosmopolitant structure of the kashmiri socitey and today a class of people want to exterminate another and in the name of religion from secular credentials want to convert it to a fundamentilistic state. Still very little is lost, still it is not late. We all Kashmiris have to wakeup and stop it before it is too late.