Jammu Kashmir & Ladakh Now A UT
Jammu & Kashmir has official been stripped of its statehood. Jammu Kashmir & Ladakh are now two separate Union territories.
For the first time in history, the Modi government has taken away the special status of J&K. Earlier the laws that applied to the rest of the country did not apply to J&K. The Indian government had power only in the field of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Communication. All the other decisions were taken by leaders selected by the people of J&K in their state assembly. Now the government has decided to turn the state of J&K into two Union territories. J&K and Ladakh will be two separate Union Territories.
A state has its own government and is ruled by it. However a UT is different. A Union territory is directly ruled by the Central Government. The J&K UT will be like other UTs such as Delhi and Puducherry where there is one legislature. Ladakh will not have a legislature like Chandigarh and will be governed by an executive council. This will ensure the government has complete control over the area. For the first time a state has become a UT.
Yesterday morning, Amit Shah did not try to remove Article 370 and 35A. He placed the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill in front of the Rajya Sabha. This Bill proposed to make J&K a UT which automatically makes the law void. This bill was passed by a two-thirds majority. This Bill will be presented in the Lok Sabha where the BJP has a majority so the Bill will easily pass. Once the President signs the Bill J&K will no longer be a state.
For the first time such a big change has been brought about in a single day and such a short period of time. In his speech Amit Shah said that when the situation in J&K come back to normal, it will be turned back into a state but there is a long time for that. J&K is under a communication blackout. None of its citizens know what is happening there. It will take a few days to see how people react to such a big news.
The conversion of J&K into a UT will bring about many changes in its governance. Earlier J&K had special rights, Now there will be no special rights. Earlier they had dual citizenship. They were citizens of India as well as J&K. Now they will only be citizens of India. J&K even had their own flag. Now There will only be the Indian Flag.There were no reservation for minorities. Now all minorities will get 16% reservation. Indian citizens could not buy property. Now anyone can buy property in J&K. RTI was not applicable. Now RTI was applicable. If a woman married to a person outside of J&K she had no rights to property and lost her citizenship to the state. Now if a woman marries out of the state or country she will still have all her rights as well as her Indian citizenship. Panchayats had no rights. Now panchayats will have all the rights like any other state. Right To education (RTE) was not applicable. More children will benefit as now the RTE will be applicable.
These are some major changes that will be imposed on J&K. 35,000 Indian Army jawans were sent to J&K to manage the situation. The entire country has divided opinions regarding this. Some were very happy with the BJP government’s decision some feel the Govt has used its powers wrongly to force such a decision on the people of J&K. Only time will tell how the people of J&K react to this decision and whether this decision will bring a positive change in J&K.
