J&K at No. 3 in ‘owning cars’ across the country

By: Sameer Lone

Srinagar, May 18:  Jammu and Kashmir is at the third rank when it comes to the percentage of households owning a car in any Indian state.

Jammu and Kashmir has the third highest 23.7 percent of households owning a car while Goa tops the list with 45.2 percent followed by Kerala at 24.2 percent, according to the National Family Health Survey-5, 2019-21.

Bihar is at the lowest rank with just 2 percent of households owning a car in any state. The big states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal range between 2.8 percent to 10.9 percent which is way too less than Jammu and Kashmir.

Senior J&K IAS Officer who is presently Secretary in J&K Government has shared the data with graph on his twitter handle which has evoked a mixed response.

One Twitter user has made a unique remark saying, “It is the indication of how poor public transport J&K has due to which people are taking finance for cars. This is worse-some approx 97% cars are financed in J&K. We need to have good public transport services for the safety of nature.”

As per a NITI Aayog report Jammu and Kashmir showed an “incremental” performance in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of good health and well being of people with the composite index score improved by eight points.

Meanwhile, according to a Multidimensional Poverty Index report the financial situation of people in J&K (12.58) is better than Maharashtra (14.85%), West Bengal(21.43%), Gujarat(18.6%), Rajasthan (29.46%) and others.

Srinagar, the summer capital of J&K and a commercial hub, stands out as the richest district in J&K with only 1.51 percent of population being poor while apple crop rich districts like Pulwama (3.97%).  Shopian(6.51%)  and Budgam (6.84%) ranks second, third and fourth  respectively.

Rajouri and Doda, according to the report, have 27.52% and 28.92 % poor population while Ramban is the poorest district in J&K with 35.26 percent poor population.

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