“In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (3) of Article 370 read with clause (1) of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, the President, on the recommendation of Parliament, is pleased to declare that, as from 6th August 2019, all clauses of the said Article 370 shall cease to be operative,” an official notification said. On the socio-political front, the historic step of abrogating Article 370, which came into effect in 1950 and Article 35-A, which came into effect in 1954, figure high on the list of achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The then President, Ram Nath Kovind, in 2019 declared abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The move came after both houses of the Indian Parliament passed a resolution in this regard. This meant the separate Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir ceased to be in operation and the Central government got the power to redraw the map of the erstwhile state, which thereafter became a Union Territory (UT). The UT of Jammu and Kashmir got a new status comparable with that of Delhi and Puducherry, the only two other UTs to have legislatures of their own. The Governor of Jammu and Kashmir became Lieutenant Governor.
What was Article 370?
Article 370 was a ‘temporary provision’ which granted special, autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir. Under Part XXI of the Constitution of India, which deals with “Temporary, Transitional and Special provisions”, J&K had been accorded special status. All the provisions of the Constitution which applied to other states did not apply to J&K. According to this Article, except for defence, foreign affairs, finance and communications, the Indian Parliament needed the J&K government’s concurrence for applying all other Indian laws. Thus J&K’s residents lived under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property and fundamental rights, as compared to other Indians, elsewhere in the country. As a result of this provision, Indian citizens from other states could not even purchase land or property in J&K.
However, now that Kashmir’s special status is gone, vide a Presidential order in 2019, following a historic decision on the floor of the Parliament on August 5, 2019, people from anywhere in India can now buy property and permanently settle in the state. A separate UT was created for J&K and the Ladakh region was also given the status of a Union Territory, albeit without legislature. In a masterstroke, the Modi government, by revoking Article 370 and Article 35-A, mainstreamed J&K and Ladakh with the rest of India, as Article 370 was always discriminatory in more ways than one.
The Modi government, on January 7, 2020, approved an industrial development scheme worth Rs 28,400 crore for the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, to give a fresh thrust on job creation, skill development and attracting new investment. Its outlay is until 2037. Smaller units with an investment in plant and machinery up to Rs 50 crore are entitled to a capital incentive of up to Rs 7.5 crore and get capital interest subvention at the rate of 6 per cent, for a maximum of seven years. What makes the scheme unique is the GST-linked incentive that ensures less compliance burden without compromising on transparency.
After the abrogation of Article 370, various public outreach programmes have been undertaken, with more than fifty Central schemes for all the people of Jammu and Kashmir. For decades, the Abdullahs and Muftis treated this region as their personal fiefdom. The fact that in the 2020 District Development Council (DDC) elections, the BJP emerged as the single largest standalone party, winning 75 seats and making inroads into hitherto impregnable areas like Srinagar, Bandipora and Pulwama, is a clear vindication of Modi’s development-oriented politics. DDC elections, conducted in eight phases, saw an average voter turnout of over 51 per cent, showcasing that there is genuine interest among the people of the valley to take part in the electoral process because they foresee development and better quality of life for themselves and their future generations going forward. Even in the Panchayat elections held in 2018, the average voter turnout was 71 per cent, marking the strength of grassroots democracy in J&K.
In 2015, while announcing the ambitious Rs 80,000-crore development package for Jammu and Kashmir, from the Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium in Srinagar, PM Narendra Modi made a passionate mention of “Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat and Insaniyat” as in “Kashmiri culture, democracy, and humanity.” “Kashmiriyat ke bina Hindustan adhura hai”, said Modi, meaning “Without Kashmiriyat, India is incomplete.” The mega package that was to change the face of the militancy-hit region and draw the disillusioned back into the mainstream has been a resounding success.
On the jobs front, thousands of jobs have been created for Kashmiri migrants in the last few years. Financial assistance of Rs 578 crore through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was provided to 12,588 displaced families (of the 36,384 families) from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Chhamb. The land was acquired for an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Jammu and two All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Jammu and Awantipora in Kashmir.
Power projects have moved at a fast pace. The Pakal Dul 1,000 MW project and the Srinagar-Leh transmission line are on course. Of the 28 small hydropower projects estimated to cost a total of Rs 2,000 crore, a number of projects have either already kicked off the ground or will do so, soon enough.
The Rs 80,000 crore package consists of 63 major development projects being implemented by 15 Central ministries. The Chenani-Nashri tunnel, also known as the Patnitop or Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee tunnel, is not only India’s longest highway tunnel but also Asia’s longest bi-directional highway tunnel. Stretching 9.28 km, the tunnel inaugurated by PM Modi in April 2017 is a huge achievement that is set to transform how different regions of India are connected across various terrains. It has reduced travel time between Jammu and Srinagar by two to four hours, reducing the distance by 31 km, which in turn has resulted in a huge reduction in the consumption of fuel. The Modi government estimates a reduction of Rs 27 lakh in fuel consumption per day, on average. Further, the tunnel is impervious to natural calamities such as landslides and avalanches which are common in the region. The core advantage the tunnel offers is permanent connectivity to the Kashmir valley, which was hitherto, only intermittently connected.
The fact that Jammu and Kashmir has always been high on the BJP government’s priority list is best amplified by PM Modi’s launch of the Social Endeavour for Health and Telemedicine (SEHAT) scheme on December 26, 2020. The scheme will cover the remaining one crore population which has not been covered under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme. With the launch of the SEHAT scheme, J&K is among the first in India to achieve universal health coverage. Currently, over 30 lakh people are already covered in J&K under Ayushman Bharat PM Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), which gives eligible beneficiaries a free health cover of Rs 5 lakh.
An uneasy calm that had prevailed in the valley after the revocation of Articles 370 and 35-A has now paved the way for higher business confidence and greater stability, with terrorism and separatism taking a backseat. Abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A has made it possible to implement the 7th Pay Commission recommendations and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), rather than the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), which was in vogue all these years. Under Article 35-A, no outsider could bag a government job. Earlier, companies were forced to hire only locals.
Revocation of the above Articles has levelled the playing field in Jammu and Kashmir. No investor was willing to set up an industry, hotel, private educational institution or private hospital since he or she could neither buy land nor property. Their wards could not get government jobs or admission to colleges. In so many decades, there are barely any major national or international chains which set up hotels in a tourism-centric region like J&K, preventing enrichment, resource generation and job creation. But on August 5, 2019, Prime Minister Modi’s government reset the clock, undoing all the misguided wrongs of the jaded Nehruvian era, in an unprecedented, epoch-making decision of abrogating Articles 370 and 35-A. The rest is history, as they say.
In a Clubhouse discussion a few years back, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay Singh, said that the Congress Party would consider restoring Article 370 if it came to power, forgetting that the revocation of the said Article is full and final and cannot be undone.
J&K’s special status had thus far even shielded it from the applicability of Article 3 of the Constitution, which provides for redrawing state boundaries or the creation of a new state/UT. But all that is in the past now, as J&K which is a UT now since 2019, is at the cusp of a sharp economic turnaround. Remember, Article 370 and Article 35-A empowered J&K to be a nearly autonomous state since it limited the Centre’s authority to just external affairs, defence, finance and communication. This provision even allowed J&K to have a “Sadar-e-Riyasat” for a governor and prime Minister in place of a chief minister till 1965, as well as its own flag and Constitution. Hence revoking Article 370, which was in any case always temporary and transitional as per Part XXI of the Constitution, was long overdue. Before the revocation, the Union government needed the concurrence of the state government to even declare a financial emergency in the erstwhile state, under Article 360. But again, all that is in the past now, thanks to the conviction and determination of PM Modi.
As per the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019, in place of this special status, all the provisions of the Indian Constitution are now applicable, which has helped in mainstreaming J&K. Article 35-A, which comes under Article 370, proscribed and prevented non-permanent residents of J&K from permanently settling in the state, buying immovable property, acquiring land, applying for government jobs or any kind of scholarships, aids as well as other public welfare projects. The people of J&K, after the revocation of Article 370 however, are now treated as one, with no discrimination between permanent residents and non-permanent ones.
Article 35-A, also referred to as the Permanent Residents Law, had thus far barred a woman (belonging to the state) from any property rights if she married a person from outside the state. The provision also extended to the children of such women as they did not have any succession rights over the property. The revoking of this Article ended the age-old discrimination against women of J&K, who chose to marry outsiders.
The Modi government’s decision to revoke Article 370 has ensured stability, market access, and predictable laws in the state, to help develop an ecosystem which will give better rewards to the skills, hard work and products of the people in the region. “In today’s world, economic growth cannot happen in a closed environment. Open minds and open markets will ensure that the youth of the region will put it on the path of greater progress. The integration gives a boost to investment, innovation and incomes,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said post the revocation of the discriminatory Articles. “Better connectivity, better linkages and better investment will help products of the region to reach across the country and the world, leading to a virtuous cycle of growth and prosperity to the common man,” PM Modi further said. And with the slew of infrastructure projects underway in the region, that is precisely what is happening. It needs to be mentioned here that J&K had received 10 per cent of all Central grants given to states over the 2000-2016 period, despite having only 1 per cent of the country’s population.
In contrast, Uttar Pradesh, making up about 13 per cent of India’s population received only 8.2 per cent of Central grants in 2000-16. That means J&K, with a population of 12.55 million according to the 2011 Census, received Rs 91,300 per person over the sixteen years between 2000-2016, while UP only received Rs 4,300 per person over the same period. Why did J&K not see any substantive development despite receiving a disproportionate amount of Central assistance begets a response? Well, funds alone cannot guarantee good governance, if political will is lacking and an enabling ecosystem is missing. In one historic sweep, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on August 5, 2019, by mainstreaming J&K with the rest of India ensured that the region could prosper like any other, without being beholden to a corrupt and conniving political class represented by the Abdullahs and Muftis, who used the special status of J&K to only accord special privileges unto themselves.
The fact that the Modi government truly abides by the dictum of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas And Sabka Prayas” can be gauged from the inauguration of mega hydropower projects in Jammu on January 3, 2021. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) to attract Rs 35,000 crore of investments, besides ensuring a 24-hour power supply in the UT. Mega hydropower projects to make J&K a power surplus region in the country were inked. MoUs were signed for the implementation of 850 MW Ratle HEP and 930 MW Kirthai-II HEP; execution of Sawalkot HEP (1856 MW), Uri-I (Stage-II) (240 MW) and Dulhasti (Stage-II) (258 MW) will transform the economic landscape of Jammu and Kashmir. In the last seven and a half decades, J&K was able to generate only 3504 MW of energy. But in the next four years alone, the UT will generate 3498 MW of additional electricity to ensure the energy security of the region.
The 19 distribution and transmission projects inaugurated on January 3, 2021, besides enhancing the ease of living in the region, are playing a significant role in raising per capita incomes, industrialisation and employment generation in the UT. The national average of electricity in rural areas is 20 hours and in urban areas 22-23 hours, across India. J&K too will reach that milestone if the pace of development is kept steady. With locals trained and given employment in NHPC ventures, J&K will see a new dawn of energy sufficiency and thereby inclusive development.
Coming back to the impact of the abrogation of Article 370, the Supreme Court in February 2023 dismissed a challenge to the constitution of the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission to readjust Constituencies in the new Union Territory. “Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution enable the Parliament to create new States and Union territories. Accordingly, the two new Union territories have been created. The J&K Reorganisation Act which created the two new Union territories assigns the role of readjustment of constituencies to the Delimitation Commission under the Delimitation Act, 2002… a law made under Article 3 can always provide for readjustment of the Constituencies in the newly constituted States or Union territories through the Delimitation Commission. Hence, we hold that there is no illegality associated with the establishment of the Delimitation Commission under the order of March 6, 2020,” a Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka held, thereby upholding what the Modi government has done in Jammu and Kashmir. The petitions were filed by Srinagar residents Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Dr. Mohammad Ayub Mattoo, to challenge the notification issued by the Centre in March 2020 establishing the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission and a second one in March 2021 extending the term of the Commission. “Once the Delimitation Commission was established, there is nothing wrong if the central government extended the period of appointment of the Chairperson till the task of delimitation/readjustment was completed,” Justice Oka, who authored the judgement, concluded. Justice Oka also said the notifications drew their power specifically from Section 62(2) of the 2019 Act.
Section 62(2) provided for the readjustment of constituencies to be carried out by the Delimitation Commission. The petitioners had argued that only the Election Commission of India, under Section 60 of the 2019 Act, was empowered to conduct the delimitation exercise. They had further argued before the Bench that Article 170 of the Constitution barred delimitation exercise on the basis of the 2011 census. It has to either happen on the basis of the 2001 census or await “the first census after the year 2026”. The Modi government had countered that there were two alternative mechanisms to carry out delimitation for the UT of J&K. By virtue of Sections 60-61, while the power to determine delimitation was conferred on Election Commission, Section 62(2) and 62(3) conferred powers to carry out delimitation on the Delimitation Commission. The Home Ministry and the ECI had argued that the delimitation orders already acquired the “force of law”. The ECI and the Ministry had maintained that the delimitation order had already been brought into effect from May 20, 2022. The delimitation order cannot be “re-agitated” in a court once it had gained finality by publication in the gazette.
It needs to be noted here that out of the 90 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) in the region, 43 will be part of the Jammu region and 47 of the Kashmir region keeping in view the provisions of Section 9(1)(a) of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Section 60(2)(b) of Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. After consultation with associate members, representatives of political parties, citizens, and civil society groups, 9ACs have been reserved for STs, out of which 6 are in the Jammu region and 3 are in the Valley. There are five Parliamentary Constituencies in the region. The Delimitation Commission has seen the J&K region as one single Union Territory. Therefore, one Parliamentary Constituency has been carved out combining the Anantnag region in the Valley and Rajouri & Poonch of the Jammu region. By this reorganisation, each Parliamentary Constituency will have an equal number of 18 Assembly Constituencies each. Names of some ACs have also been changed, keeping in view the demand of local representatives.
Indeed, in the final analysis, it can be effectively concluded that J&K is taking a quantum leap from being power deficit to power surplus and post abrogation of Article 370, growth has been given a new set of wings. Clean, affordable and reliable energy is the key for industries, businesses and society to grow. The Modi government has a well-laid-out plan to effectively harness the hydro energy resources of J&K, with a goal to double the energy generation by 2024. The construction work on the Ring Road project, the widening of the National Highway from Pathankot to Jammu to make it six-lane from four-lane as well as the acquisition of land for the landmark Katra-Delhi Expressway road corridor have started in earnest, in the Jammu region. Out of seven Centrally funded medical colleges, Jammu received four and Kashmir three. As for recruitment to government jobs, hereafter the selection will be made purely on the basis of a written test, without an interview. Those including the Gupkar Alliance, who are raising a hue and cry against the revocation of Article 370 are merely habitual pessimists, with rapidly declining political relevance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aspirational and inclusive brand of politics is heralding the winds of change in J&K and Ladakh, so that everyone has a shot at growth and equity, with a better quality of life.
Sanju Verma is an Economist, National Spokesperson for BJP and Bestselling Author of “The Modi Gambit”. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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