J&K Assembly passes grants for IT, FCS&CA, ARI trainings Transport, YSS, S&T Deptts

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Monday passed the grants amounting Rs 2796.07 lakh for Information Technology, Rs 70312.76 lakh for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Rs 4048.90 Lakh for ARI Trainings, Labour Stationary and Printing, Rs 12617.03 lakh for Transport, Rs 62154.91 lakh for Youth Services and Sports and Rs 17279.10 lakh for Science and Technology departments. The grants were passed after a daylong detailed discussion in the House.
Summing up the discussion, the Minister said that the Jammu and Kashmir government is driving a comprehensive digital transformation mission to deliver inclusive and hassle free services. The IT Department of Jammu and Kashmir stands at the forefront of the region’s digital revolution, dedicated towards enhancing the governance efficiency, transparency and citizen empowerment through cutting-edge digital technologies, he added.
“Over the past many years, the number of online services has increased from around 60 to 1166, along with a provision for capturing citizen feedback through the Rapid Assessment System and integration with Mobile Dost, Digi-Locker. All the online services are being brought under the ambit of auto appeal and auto escalation mechanism as per provisions of the Public Services Guarantee Act, 2011”, informed the Minister.
The Minister said that e-Governance Centre of Excellence, Capacity Building Programmes, Augmentation of Compute in State Data Centre, Strengthening of Digital Connectivity are some of the major initiatives launched to galvanize an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in the field besides investing in research, development and innovation. He added that JKSWAN would be extended horizontally at District, Tehsil and Block Headquarters. The government Wi-Fi/Intranet would be made seamless in all the government offices, including J&K House in New Delhi. Besides, the District LAN would be established at District HQs, he added.
“Digital Village Centres shall be established in 1000 Gram Panchayat locations with a vision to improve the connectivity and outreach besides extension of e-office services”, added the Minister.
Additionally, the IT Department shall implement various other e-Governance initiatives like Automation of Hospitals, Unified Dashboard, Digital Signage for dissemination of information at district and Panchayat level to the citizens, IVRS, establishment of NOC/SOC to support e-Governance at the grassroots level.
Regarding the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, the Minister said that the department has been functioning in J&K with the prime motive to provide food security to different sections of the society through implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA).
The Minister said that 16.64 lakh households comprising 66.82 lakh beneficiaries under NFSA are eligible to receive free food grains every month in J&K under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). While each AAY household gets 35 kg of food grains every month, free of cost, each beneficiary in a Priority Household gets 5 kg of food grains every month, free of cost, he added.
He informed that food grains are also made available at a scale of 5 kg per beneficiary, at highly affordable and subsidized cost of rice @ Rs.15/kg, wheat @ Rs. 12/kg and wheat flour @ Rs.13/kg, to around 8.15 lakh Non-Priority Households (NPHH), comprising nearly 31.70 lakh beneficiaries in J&K.
The Minister said that the government is presently implementing the Prime Minister’s Food Supplementation for Priority Households Scheme in the UT. The scheme is providing additional 5 kg of rice every month to a member of PHH, subject to a maximum of 10 kg per household at a cost of Rs 25/kg only, in a manner that the total entitlement of the household does not exceed 35 kg under all schemes, he added. He said that 13.49 lakh Households are eligible under this scheme.
The Minister informed that providing additional free food grains, in the context of AAY families, is a proposal in the Annual Financial Statement of 2025-26. Moreover, sugar is also being provided to AAY families, at a scale of 1 Kg/ family per month at the rate of Rs 13.50 per Kg only.
He said that following the shifting to Ration Card Management System in September, 2022, about 28996 new Ration Cards under NFSA and 45075 under NPHH have been issued to the deserving households and the registered e-shram registrants, reported to be not covered under the Public Distribution System.
The Minister further said that after deleting duplicate beneficiaries through de-duplication and field verification, the J&K government has ordered for inclusion of children born after Census 2011, during the years 2011 to 2016, for extending them the benefits under PDS.
The Minister informed that the distribution network of the department comprises of around 6630 Sale Outlets, of which, 4645 are Fair Price Shops and 1985 are Government Sale Centres. Of these, 6390 (96%) are working in an online mode and 240 are working in off-line mode.
The Minister said that One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) has been implemented across Jammu and Kashmir in 2020 and presently the facility is available in 96% of the Sale Centres where devices work in an online mode. “Jammu and Kashmir is at 9th rank in the country in terms of ONORC transactions”, he added.
The Minister said that the department has pursued reforms in a mission mode to make the Public Distribution System (PDS) transparent, credible and convenient to the public. He added that the nominee policy for Aadhaar enabled Public Distribution System has also been put in place for the benefit of beneficiaries, who are old, sick, disabled, minors and working class with worn out fingerprints, so as to ensure regular supply of ration to these beneficiaries through their nominees. Additionally, the department has also introduced Aadhar based OT