Jammu, 26 November 2025: Contrary to claims by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and several Hindu organisations that the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME) in Katra runs solely on offerings made by Hindu devotees, official budget documents of the Jammu & Kashmir government show that Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University – the parent body that established and operates the medical college – has received consistent and substantial financial grants from the J&K government for the past eight years, including after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
The grants, listed under “Grants-in-Aid to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University”, have risen steadily:
– 2017–18: ₹10 lakh
– 2018–19: ₹50 lakh
– 2019–20: ₹5 crore
– 2020–21: ₹19.70 crore
– 2021–22: ₹21 crore
– 2022–23: ₹23 crore
– 2023–24: ₹24 crore
– 2024–25: ₹24 crore
– 2025–26 (current financial year): ₹28 crore (approved)
The total amount disbursed by the J&K government to the university from 2017–18 till date stands at approximately ₹121 crore, according to the Union Territory’s Finance Department records.
The disclosure has direct bearing on the ongoing controversy surrounding the first MBBS batch of SMVDIME (2024–25), where 42 out of 50 seats were secured by Muslim candidates through open merit in the NEET-UG examination. The BJP and organisations such as Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal have demanded reservation for Hindu students, repeatedly asserting that the medical college is built entirely with offerings made at the Vaishno Devi shrine and should therefore prioritise Hindus.
National Conference leaders, including spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, have countered that admissions are strictly merit-based as the institution is not a notified minority college, and that the university continues to receive significant funding from the J&K government – a fact they say undermines demands for religion-based reservation.
“These are public funds coming from taxpayers of all communities in Jammu & Kashmir. The university is not run only on shrine offerings,” a senior NC leader told reporters on Tuesday.
Even during the period of President’s Rule and Lieutenant Governor’s administration (2019–2024), when J&K budgets were cleared by Parliament, grants to SMVD University continued to increase every year.
While the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board remains the primary source of funding for the university and its medical college, the steady flow of J&K government grants – now amounting to over ₹121 crore in eight years – establishes that the institution is also supported by the Union Territory exchequer.
The J&K government’s latest budget for 2025–26, presented after the formation of the elected National Conference–Congress government, has further raised the grant to ₹28 crore – the highest annual allocation so far.
Neither the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University administration nor the Shrine Board has issued an official response to the funding figures made public this week | Kashmir Pen
