Parliament has passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 with Rajya Sabha approving it today. The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha last week.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 seeks to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004. The Act provides reservation in jobs and admission in professional institutions to members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other socially and educationally backward classes. The Bill substitutes weak and under-privileged classes with other backward classes as declared by the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
On the other hand, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 amends the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. The 2019 Act amended the Second Schedule of the 1950 Act to specify the total number of seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly to be 83. The Bill will increase the total number of seats to 90. It also reserves seven seats for Scheduled Castes and nine seats for Scheduled Tribes. The Bill adds that the Lieutenant Governor may nominate up to two members from the Kashmiri migrant community to the Legislative Assembly. One of the nominated members must be a woman. Migrants are defined as persons who migrated from the Kashmir Valley or any other part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir after 1st November 1989 and are registered with the Relief Commission.
Replying to the debate, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, the Supreme Court’s verdict has proved that the decision to abrogate Article 370 was completely constitutional. He said, the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir does not hold any validity after the Supreme Court’s verdict on Article 370 abrogation. Mr Shah said, Article 370 promoted separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and gave rise to terrorism in the region. He said, the verdict of the Supreme Court is a big defeat for opposition parties. The Home Minister said, the Narendra Modi government is committed to ensuring justice to displaced Kashmiri people.
The Home Minister reiterated that the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir will be restored and elections will also be conducted at an appropriate time. He said, earlier there were 37 seats in Jammu and now after the new delimitation commission, there are 43 seats. Mr Shah said, there were 46 seats in Kashmir but now there are 47 seats. He said, in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir 24 seats have been reserved. Mr Shah said, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir belongs to India and nobody can snatch it.
Mr Shah said the total number of terrorist incidents during UPA rule was seven thousand 217 whereas in the last ten years, it has reduced to two thousand 197. He said that there has been a 70 per cent reduction in terrorist incidents. The Home Minister said, the incident of organized stone pelting was two thousand 656 in 2010, while this year not a single incident of stone pelting happened. Apart from this, the incidents of ceasefire violations were 70 in 2010 and it has reduced to six in 2023. Mr Shah said, the government tried to finish ecosystem of terror funding in Jammu and Kashmir.
The opposition walked out of Rajya Sabha during the Home Minister’s reply to the Bill.
Earlier, initiating the discussion on these two Bills, Vivek Tankha of Congress demanded the restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and holding Assembly elections there. Referring to the Supreme Court verdict on the abrogation of Article 370, he said that it aligns with their beliefs. He said that there are many problems in the region to which the government should think about providing solutions.
Participating in the debate, the BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi has said that through these Bills, some communities will get justice after independence. He said, the UT is scaling new heights of developments and instances of stone pelting, strikes, and ceasefire violations have come down drastically in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Trivedi also highlighted that J&K has witnessed great developments post-abrogation of article 370.
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