Jammu, Feb 7: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Nagrota Devyani Rana on Saturday announced her arrival as a sagacious politician-in-making and carrying forward legacy of her illustrious late father, Devender Singh Rana, in the J&K Legislative Assembly with her maiden address.
She stepped into her father’s shoes gracefully and vigorously, with a sound footing of statistics as she pleaded the cause of her electorate.
Devyani was participating in the general discussion on the budget for the year 2026-27 presented by the Chief Minister on February 6, 2026.
As soon as the Speaker, Abdul Rahim Rather, announced her name as the next participant in the debate, the MLAs from both the treasury and opposition benches cheered her with thumping desks. The chair too asked all the legislators to welcome and encourage her.
“I rise today with a heart that is both heavy and hopeful. This is my maiden address in this august House.” As she uttered these words to begin her address, the MLAs cutting across the party lines yet again applauded her with thumping of desks.
In the very next sentence, she poignantly remembered her father, yet with a resolve to keep his proud legacy to serve the people alive by addressing their concerns with utmost sincerity.
“Today I speak as a representative of the proud people of the Nagrota constituency. I begin by paying my most reverential homage to my father and the legislator par excellence – Devender Singh Rana Sahib – a leader who had been elected with the highest margin in this assembly in 2024; a man whose bond with the people was not transient or transactional but was perpetual and transcendent and whose life was cut cruelly short soon after the mandate was bestowed upon him. His absence is deeply personal to me and the people of Nagrota constituency,” Devyani stated.
Maintaining her momentum, she said, “But his (Devender Singh Rana’s) ideas, his unwavering commitment to public service continue to guide my every step. I stand here today not merely to occupy the seat but to honour a legacy and to serve my Nagrota constituency, my Nagrota family with the same sincerity and resolve as Rana Sahib would have.”
At the outset, she also placed on record her appreciation for the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanji for allocation made to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir an outlay of Rs 43,290 Cr for the year 2026-27, an increase of nearly Rs 2000 Cr over the current financial year.
Shifting her focus to the J&K’s annual budget, Devyani guided the House’s attention towards the Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation Department (DMRRD).
“The capital expenditure Budget Estimates (BE) for the year 2025-26 stood at Rs 719 Cr. The Revised Estimates (RE) for 2025-26 were slashed to Rs 448 Cr, a startling steep reduction of Rs 271 Cr. Subsequently, in the BEs for 2026-27, the allocation further declined to Rs 350.76 Cr, which is almost half of what was estimated in the budget last year. Ironically, this contraction comes in a year marked by unprecedented and incessant rainfall that devastated rural areas, especially in the Nagrota constituency,” she expressed her dismay.
She pointed out that in her constituency only, a 3-year-old girl child Mahi from Shwap Panchayat died in a landslide incident while 28-year-old Shamsher Ali swept away in fast currents of water.
“These names are not just from the Nagrota constituency. These names represent the lives lost in the devastation that spanned the Jammu division. J&K is an earthquake prone, landslide prone, flood and fire-prone Union Territory. This is an established fact. We have lived through these realities. Preparedness is a moral imperative. So, we invest more and decisively in resilient infrastructure, structural upgrades, restoration of damaged public assets, early warning systems, flood management, drainage network and the philosophy of build-back and build-better,” she stated.
Another significant issue, she focused on, was equity and transparency in resource distribution.
“We know that when Jammu faced an unprecedented flood-like situation, many lives were lost, bridges were damaged, roads swept away or caved in, houses collapsed; our children were stranded in the houses, colleges and various other places. Boats and helicopters were pressed into service to evacuate. We also know that the trucks loaded with apples were also stranded at Jammu Srinagar National Highway (NH 44) which led to substantial damages to our traders,” MLA Nagrota stated.
Robustly pleading the cause of Nagrota and the entire Jammu region, she said, “We are not saying that you should not count on losses incurred against loss of apple boxes. We are only saying that loss on account of apple boxes pales before houses lost, land subsidence rendering many homeless. There can be no comparison between the lives lost in the Jammu region and damages on account of perished apple boxes.”
She pointed out, “We must acknowledge that the principles of equity must be applied especially in the areas that have faced most losses and that need to be equitably rebuilt to save that from any future disaster.”
Turning to the sector of education, which she described as “the great equalizer and the bedrock of any progressive society”, Devyani noted that under education, the capital expenditure RE for 2025-26 was Rs 1163.72 Cr yet for 2026-27, the budget estimates have been reduced to Rs 969.97 Cr.
“This is an admission by numbers alone that we intend to spend Rs 193.75 Cr less on education than we are set to in this fiscal year. If the schools are closed or merged, how the children from poor strata will rise. Under education, the revenue expenditure the revised estimates for the 2025-26 were Rs 12094.3 Cr while the budget estimate for the year 2026-27 is Rs 12018.75 Cr, reflecting a reduction of Rs 75 Cr,” she said, with statistics.
In the same breath, she threw a poser, “Given this fiscal fact, are we adequately prepared to fill vacancies across the education sector through fresh recruitment of teachers and lecturers. It also raises serious doubts about the consideration of recruitment of sanitation workers and guards in the school.”
Devyani described the situation in the Power Development Department also as “deeply concerning”, while highlighting a staggering reduction in its budget in 2026-27.
She welcomed the announcement of free-bus services for differently abled people in the budget. “But are buses adequately equipped with ramps and access mechanisms?” she asked.
Devyani stated that mere repackaging of central schemes was not enough.
