Once plagued by instability, Jammu and Kashmir is now witnessing a transformative resurgence in tourism, infrastructure, and investment, ushering in a new era of growth, opportunity, and national integration
The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places on earth. It, however, has also been one of the most volatile regions due to the delusional and dogmatic mindset of our western neighbour. The result: ever since 1947, it has been subjected to periods of turmoil, instability and tremendous external pressures.
The casualties in this entire process have been the people of the State along with our brave security forces, who have defended the people from both external as well as indoctrinated internal elements. Post-Independence, the economy of the State was doing quite well, and it was driven to a large extent by the tourism industry. For decades, this sector formed a critical part of the State’s economy and was the favourite destination of India’s most loved entertainment source — the Bollywood movies!
As a result, the State remained in the limelight, with the most famous actors, in a way, becoming its brand ambassadors. As many as 50 per cent of the movies were shot in the State, showcasing its beauty and creating avenues of growth for various extensions of the entertainment industry.
This had a huge bearing and created fertile conditions for the coming up of tourist destinations, hotels, markets for local handicrafts, the Kashmiri ‘apple’ and ‘dry fruits’, shikara (houseboats) — all of which generated tremendous employment for the people of the State.
In 1955, over 50 thousand domestic and foreign tourists visited J&K; this number crossed 74 thousand by 1960, to over 1.5 lakh by 1968, and stood at around 5.85 lakhs in 1980. Srinagar, in the 1960s and 70s, had approximately 5–9 daily flights from many Indian cities and was relatively well connected back in the days.
According to a Government survey, J&K welcomed 7 lakh tourists in 1987, and this went down to a mere 6,000 three years later. This proves the sheer economic damage that the State suffered due to instability and mischievous propaganda of vested interests. Things improved a little post-1989, and unfortunately the region was embattled in the Kargil War in 1999. Things did take a turn for the better, and by 2010 — 30 years after 1980 — the number of tourist arrivals touched the 5-lakh mark, going on to show that despite some recovery, the State made no real progress in this area in 30 years due to the prevailing uncertainties and an environment of terror.
In 2019, when the Government took the bold step of abolishing Article 370, and firmly conveyed its position — that enough is enough — J&K once again began an era of unprecedented economic and all-round progress. The improved overall environment and sentiment was first and foremost reflected through the tourist arrivals that broke all records. In 2021, 1.13 crore tourists visited the UT; 1.89 crore in 2022; this increased to 2.12 crores in 2023 and 2.36 crores in 2024. This has also resulted in many multinational and domestic hotel chains opening new properties in the UT, and the region currently offers 62,488 registered tourist beds across hotels, guest houses and houseboats.
In addition, J&K is developing 75 new tourist destinations, 75 heritage/cultural sites, 75 Sufism/religious sites and 75 adventure treks/sites — potentially attracting tourists for all the four seasons.
There has also been a massive increase in the daily flights to Srinagar, which is today witnessing around 45–50 daily flights in summer and 35–37 flights in the winters. To complete a full circle, as many as 300 movies and web series were shot in J&K in two years (2022 and 2023) — a clear signal that the atmosphere was back to the pre-1989 days. In fact, here it is critical to mention the laudable and impactful steps that the Central and the UT Government have taken since 2019: the Prime Minister’s Development Package — 2015 was accelerated and 53 projects pertaining to 15 ministries are being implemented at a cost of `58,477 crores in various sectors such as roads, power, health, education, tourism, agriculture, skill development and much more — out of these, 29 projects have been completed with many others in advanced stages of production.
A new Central Sector Scheme was notified in 2021 for the industrial development of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, with an outlay of `28,400 crores. In addition, J&K has received investment applications of more than `54,000 crores, out of which projects worth more than `36,000 crores have been allotted industrial land. The construction work of 17,601 km of roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana was completed up to March 2022, and this has connected over 2,074 places. Two AIIMS, seven new medical colleges, two cancer institutes and 15 nursing colleges have been taken up and operationalised, along with reviving power projects for about 3,000 MW capacity.
Three major irrigation projects that include Ravi Canal (`62 crore), third stage of Tral Lift Irrigation Scheme (`45 crore) and the comprehensive flood management plan of river Jhelum and its tributaries — Phase I, costing `400 crores — have been completed. In addition, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir has carried out recruitment in the public sector from 2019 onwards, totalling nearly 30 thousand employments. Another 5.2 lakh persons are estimated to be employed through self-employment schemes from August 2019 up to June 2022. A hundred per cent saturation has also been achieved in 17 individual beneficiary-centric schemes, including Saubhagya, Ujala, Ujjwala and Indradhanush schemes. Therefore, things really began to look up, and the period from 2019 onwards is actually the golden period for the Valley and the UT of J&K.
That is, till the recent and most unfortunate and orchestrated attack that happened at one of the UT’s most famous tourist destinations — Pahalgam. It was clear that the recent development of the region, and the overall environment of prosperity, did not go well with a neighbouring state which has an evil eye on J&K — and their frustration led to this desperate attempt to damage the economy and derail the progress being made by the local population. It has always been the people of the UT who have, today and in the past, remained the biggest sufferers and have paid a steep price for such senseless acts. It is my firm belief that the best is yet to come for the Valley and its people. Ultimately, the answer for J&K’s growth and a bright future lies in the local Kashmiri’s resolve and ability to recognise and call out the sinister agenda of external forces. They need to awaken and defeat these evil designs for their own good, and for this to happen — cooperating and trusting the local administration, which has always tried to ensure their safety and security, along with that of their future generations — is the need of the hour!
(The writer is President — Corporate Affairs, ITC. Views are personal)
