Former Director General, Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES), GA Qureshi on Tuesday delivered a lecture at Central University-Kashmir (CUK) on “Development Planning in Jammu and Kashmir”.
A statement said DeanSchool of Social Sciences and Head, Department of Economics, Prof GM Bhat,faculty, research scholars and students attended the lecture.
Qureshi talked about the pre-independence economic scenarioof Jammu and Kashmir and the country as well as level of deprivation andexistence of poverty, said the statement.
He said the developmentprocess in J&K has undergone four stages – abolishing the exploitativesystem and introduction of “Big Landed Estates Abolition Act 1952” popularlyknown as “Land to Tiller” Act.
He hailed the landreforms and stated that the reforms were the reason that the incidence ofpoverty has always been at ebb in J&K.
In the second stage, hesaid, building up of basic infrastructure – power, irrigation dams and railwayswas emphasized.
The third stage wasabout decentralization and introduction of single line administration system bythe then government, Qureshi said.
The development processwas made participatory which paved the way for introduction of Panchayat RajAct 1989, he said.
The fourth stage, hesaid laid stress on economic reconstruction after a decade-long conflict in theregion. Qureshi also responded to thequestions from the students.