JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday said benefits under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations will be rolled out to employees from April 1.

Presenting the budgetary proposals for 2018-19 in the Assembly, Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu also announced release of 1 per cent Dearness Allowance for government employees retrospectively from July 1 last year.

The 7th Pay Commission recommendations will also be implemented retrospectively from January 2016.

Drabu said the government employees would now get full pensionary benefits after serving for 20 years instead of the previous 28 years and that unmarried daughters of employees would now be eligible to get family pension benefits after the employee’s death.

The Minister also announced below poverty line benefits to transgenders, unless they desire otherwise.

Among other proposals, Drabu announced incentives to those serving the people in remote, far flung rural areas. He said the posting of employees in urban centres would be de-incentivised.

He said the medical claim insurance policies of all employees had been completed and this would now benefit 30 lakh people.

Separately, rare documents like The Treaty of Lahore (March 1846), The Treaty of Amritsar (March 1846), the Instrument of Accession (October 1947), Standstill Agreement between India and Pakistan and the Princely states of British India are being showcased in an exhibition in New Delhi.

Titled “India@70: The Jammu and Kashmir Saga”, the exhibition has been curated by National Archives of India to mark the occasion of 70 years of accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India.

The History Division of the Ministry of Defence has contributed by providing valuable inputs and rare operational records including war diaries and dispatches of Jammu and Kashmir Operations (1947-48) in public domain for the first time.

The exhibition, inaugurated by Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma on Thursday, gives a chance to take a peep into the 1947-48 period with original letters, telegrams and rare documents.

Accompanying these are rare vintage photographs, documentaries maps, soldiers’ maps, newspapers reports and a large number of books on Kashmir. The exhibition, being showcased at the National Archives of India, will end on Feb.10.

The Kashmir issue is more than a conflict, said the editor of a book that brings together essays by different people on multiple aspects of both the region and the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.