Has Jammu and Kashmir really ‘prospered’ after 2019? Data suggests otherwise

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a strategically important tunnel in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.

The 6.4-km Sonamarg tunnel on Srinagar-Leh national highway takes an important step in ensuring round-the-year connectivity to the Ladakh region. This is the second major infrastructure project Modi has flagged off in the region in the first two weeks of 2025.

In an indirect reference to the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and statehood in August, 2019, Modi said the union territory is “regaining its identity as ‘paradise on earth’, leaving behind the difficult days of the past”.

“J&K is the crown of India and I want this crown to be made more beautiful and prosperous,” he said, in an address to the gathering at Ganderbal.

However, a look at different parameters of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy and other development indexes suggests that in the past the erstwhile state performed better than most Indian states on economic and social indicators – and that its “prosperity” may have taken a beating since the Bharatiya Janata Party government brought in radical changes to its constitutional features.

Social and economic indicators pre-2019

With its small population, Jammu and Kashmir contributes only 0.8 % to India’s gross domestic product. Nonetheless, the erstwhile state’s human and social development indicators…

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