Future of a surrendered militant is well secured in Jammu & Kashmir in comparison to that of the widow of a civilian killed in militancy related violence in the State.
According to the Rehabilitation policy of 2004, “a surrendered militant is entitled to receive stipend for a period of 3 years at Rs2000 per month from the date of surrender, fixed deposit of Rs1.50 lakh and payment of monetary incentive for surrender weapons”.
According to the policy Rs15,000 is paid for surrendering along with AK -47 Rifles, 25,000 for RPG, Pika, Sniper Rifle, UMG etc.
In comparison to this a widow of a civilian (belonging to a BPl family) killed in militancy related violence receives a paltry sum of Rs750 per month as pension from the State Government.
The amount of compensation to the next of kin of the militancy victim was earlier enhanced from Rs1 lakh to Rs5 lakhs by the State Government in 2009. Rs4 lakh is paid to these victims in lieu of Government job besides Rs1 lakh ex-gratia to the next of kin.
In a span of three years a surrendered militant pockets Rs2.22 lakh while a widow receives paltry sum of Rs27,000 in her bank account.
At present the State Government is paying monthly pension at Rs750 to Rs3,603 widows incurring total expenditure of Rs2.86 crores per annum while 216 surrendered militants are availing the benefits of Rehabilitation policy incurring monthly expenditure of Rs2.68 crores.
Besides, a surrenderee who desires to undergo any vocational training for self- employment, the Government facilitates such training free of cost at the centres to be decided on case to case basis.
In the event of a surrenderee able to secure any Government job either in Central Government/PSUs/Army/State Government/Cooperatives where the Central/State Government has a share, the stipend will be discontinued forthwith. 2753 widows are registered across 10 districts of Kashmir valley with Baramulla reporting highest number of 915 cases followed by 646 from Kupwara and 273 from Anantnag.
In Jammu region 850 widows are drawing monthly pension at Rs750. The highest number of 264 widows belonging to BPl family are registered in Doda followed by 152 in Rajouri and 121 in Kishtwar.
According to the official sources, dependents of militancy victims are also paid monthly pension at Rs750 by the State Government. A total number of 2307 such cases are registered across the State incurring an expenditure of Rs2.10 crores.