Article 370 scrapped

Home Minister Amit Shah moved Rajya Sabha to scrap Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, removing the special status granted to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The order titled The Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) Order, 2019, which has been signed by President Ram Nath Kovind, comes into force immediately. India’s history was rewritten as Article 370, which gives special status to Kashmir, and by extension, Article 35A was abrogated, repealed and scrapped! Not only that, a Bill was moved to bifurcate the state into two union territories – Jammu & Kashmir as one and Ladakh as the other.

He has announced that the President of India has issued a presidential order under Article 370, superseding the 1954 order. The order states that all the provisions of the Indian Constitution apply to Jammu and Kashmir. Whereas the 1954 order specified only some articles of the Indian constitution to apply to the State, the new order removed all such special provisions.

“Article 370 has not been abrogated yet”

The need of the hour is One India and One Constitution. This is end game for dynasties of Abdullahs, Muftis and Gandhis.  These dynasties have treated Kashmir as their Private Estate and didn’t allow complete integration of Kashmir with the rest of Bharat.

Why Needed to revoke?

It reduces the feeling of national integrity and increases the separatist’s feelings. There is a feeling of alienation from the rest of the country. It’s because separatism grows when people feel disconnected from the structures of power and the process of policy formulation. It prevents the industrial development of the state because people from outside the state can’t invest there. No investment leads to no development and then no employment. Most of the youth over there is unemployed.

What is Article 370?

It enshrined in the Indian Constitution — an article that gave special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. , granting it autonomy. This is why, you would have noticed how the laws extend to the whole of India, except the state of J&K. In fact, J&K has its own set of laws, put in place for its people. Article 370 stipulated that the other articles of the Constitution that gave powers to the Central Government would be applied to J&K only with the concurrence of the State’s constituent assembly.

The article was articulated in Part XXI of the Constitution: Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions. The Constituent Assembly of J&K was empowered to recommend the articles of the Indian constitution that should be applied to the state or to abrogate Article 370 altogether.  The J&K Constituent Assembly created the state’s constitution and dissolved itself without recommending the abrogation of Article 370, so, the article was deemed to have become a permanent feature of the Indian Constitution. 

Aside from Articles 1 and 370, all the other Articles in the Constitution will apply to the State of J&K subject to the exceptions and modifications made by the President, but need to have Consultation (if the subject is in the instrument of accession ) or Concurrence (if the subject is not in the instrument of accession) of the state government. It empowers the President to apply other Articles of the Constitution to Jammu & Kashmir.

Article 370-03: The President may declare that shall cease to be operative only with such exceptions and modifications provided by the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State. This clause empowers the President to repeal Article 370 or bring about modifications. But this order can be issued only by the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of J&K, a body that was already dissolved in past.

[Today there is no Constituent Assembly and so no one has the power to abrogate the Article 370…So, it seems very hard to revoke it.]

Strategic Move from Home Minister:

Knowing this, the Presidential Order does not make any change directly to Article 370. Instead, it has amended Article 367 of the Constitution. By way of Presidential Order, Article 367 has been amended. A new clause has been inserted into the Article – clause (4).

The following are the major changes brought about by this new clause (4) of Article 367:

1. As per this new clause, any reference in the Constitution to the Government of J&K shall be construed as a reference to the Governor of the State. Government of J&K—>>> Governor of the State
2. Any reference to the Sadar-i-Risayat (elected head of State) of Jammu & Kashmir shall be construed as reference to the Governor of J&K. Sadar-i-Risayat…>>> Governor of J&K
3. The Constituent Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir (which was dissolved long ago in the 1950s) referred to in the proviso to clause (3) of Article 370 shall be read as Legislative Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir. Constituent Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir …>>>Legislative Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir

Using clause 1 of Article 370, which empowers the President to apply other Articles of the Constitution to the State of Jammu & Kashmir. So using this Article 367 has been amended and a new interpretation is given to Article 370-03 which now says to read the reference to the Constituent Assembly in Article 370(3) to Legislative Assembly.

And finally, it enables the President to repeal the provision with the concurrence of the Legislative Assembly of J&K.

The President has used Article 370 (1)(d) to amend Article 367 since Article 370 cannot be amended by a President Order under Article 370(1)(d). Hence, amendment to Article 367 is carried out, which in turn has laid down a rule of interpretation for Article 370(3) by replacing ‘Constituent Assembly’ with ‘Legislative Assembly’.

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Article 370 enables:

• The citizens of Jammu and Kashmir have Dual citizenship.
• The national flag of Jammu and Kashmir is different than India.
• J&K assembly’s term of 6 years, whereas other states of India have 5 years.
• Within J&K insulting the Indian National Flag or national symbols are not the crime.
• The orders of the Supreme Court of India are not valid within Jammu – Kashmir.
• Parliament of India may make laws but for defense, International issues and communication.
• RTI is not applicable to Kashmir. RTE is not applicable. CAG does not apply. NHRC… None of the Indian laws apply.
• A woman from J&K married to a man from any other state of India then that woman’s citizenship shall be terminated. Conversely, if they get married to someone of Pakistan then he will get J&K citizenship.

Clauses of article 370 were faiths for the Valley’s opportunistic leaders like the Abdullahs, the Muftis and the separatists who benefit as the rest of the country supports their luxurious lifestyle, and unproductive governance due to simply a political gains in the elections. The Home Minister exposed their hypocrisy of sending their children to study abroad while ordering the Valley’s students to boycott classes. Most Kashmiris live below the poverty line though separatists and political leaders own 90 % of the Valley’s sources of income. They get full state protection while hapless citizens face bullets of the security forces and bombs of Pak-sponsored terrorists. J&K is a bank where the Center endlessly deposits funds but cannot withdraw a penny.

Article 370 downgraded impacts:

• No outsider is allowed to purchase land in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Not to establish business in Kashmir for outsiders. So, there is no enough expertise in skills.
• No more business so due to lack of employment, youths enroll themselves in terrorism.
• Lack of medical facilities as no outer doctors want to move there due to property purchase restrictions to PRs.
• Only Muslims can become Chief ministers of J&K. So the politics is run in the name of religion there.
• Gender biased as it gives more benefits to men and not to women.

After this move, what will change:

Indian government abolishes decades-old laws that gave a measure of autonomy to the disputed Muslim-majority region.

Immediate effect:

• J&K will become a Union Territory & Ladakh will be separated from J&K.
• Ladakh will also become another Union Territory.
• J&K will not have a separate constitution of its own. The Constitution of India will apply to it.
• No separate flag of Jammu and Kashmir.

  

• Dual citizenship will come to an end.
• Any citizen of India can buy a property or land in J&K as article 35 A is scrapped.
• Post of Governor will be changed into Lt. Governor (same as in other Union Territories)
• Article 356 of the Indian constitution will apply to it which will allow the president’s rule in case of state emergency. Earlier it was governor’s rule.
• It will be a criminal offense to defame the Indian flag etc.

आर्टिकल 370 पर सुनवाई के दौरान कहा- भारतीयों को देश में कहीं भी रहने, नौकरी करने का हक

In the future, we can see less of separatist growth there. The center can take strict actions against people who are encouraging terrorism in the valley. The utilization of state capability is limited until now. Ladakh finally getting the attention it deserved which was comparatively a peaceful area yet suffered a lot due to being the territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

Youth and intellectuals from J&K will participate in the Growth of India without any limitations. Factors like employment, literacy, and improved tourism will dilute the anti-national feelings there and the burden from our Soldiers will be relaxed.

ALSO READ | Narendra Modi | Article 35(A) |

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