Author : Aditya Pratap Singh Khangarot, Student at Manipal University, Jaipur.
INTRODUCTION
During 1947, while Britishers were leaving India they gave the freedom to all the kings in India, where they wish to this cause the creation of hundreds of provinces internally. This is where Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel came into the picture and united them to form a common nation but faced dispute with Kashmir as the king of Kashmir didn’t accept the proposal because of Indian politics and he wanted to be separated. At the same time Pakistan planned to conquer Kashmir forcefully as it is not possible to complete the procedure they have acquire some parts from October, 1947.
When Maharaja Hari singh (King of Kashmir) signed the “Instrument of Accession” wherby Giving the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India in the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. ,Mohammad Ali Jinnah dined the fact that the Territory allotted to India by Maharaj Hari Singh was given under pressure and without his free will and denied the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is part of India. Jawaharlal Nehru didn’t Like it and straight away went to UN For the Resolution of the matter.
When the matter was before UN, It gave the instrument of accession very less value and said that Kashmir is a disputed area and this disputed area of Kashmir can be solved through one way that is “Plebiscite”.
Now one questions comes to our mind is that what is Plebiscite ?
Plebiscite is the process of voting where the people have to decide , Whether they want to be the part of India or Pakistan and has a majority of votes Jammu and Kashmir will be the part of that particular country
But Before applying Plebiscite there were two prior conditions which has to be fulfilled before applying of plebiscite, which are as follows :
- The area which was possessed by Pakistan and the Pakistani army which was residing there should be removed.
- The Indian army which was deployed there should be reduced in Number.
When these 2 conditions are fulfilled then the PLEBISCITE becomes applicable but the result was that the countries didn’t want to Remove their Armies and Plebiscite never happened.
When all these things were happening there was a new emerging leader named Sheikh Abdullah and by that time he was addressing many Political issues of Jammu and Kashmir population, Previously the name of his political party was “All India Jammu And Kashmir Muslim Conference” in which he used to represent many parts of Jammu and Kashmir after that his party got renamed as “National Conference” in which he used to represent the suppressed classes of J&k people. In between UN, Emerging leaders and the PM of India decided to bring Article 370, the ideology behind this is that if plebiscite even happens the people of J&k feel safe and secure in the territory of India. In between meeting between Sheikh Abdullah and the Indian government which was known as the Delhi agreement in this meeting the conditions of instrument of accession were discussed
Sheikh Abdullah became the PM of Kashmir in the year 1965, where whole India had one PM and Kashmir had another, they also had Sardar Rishad as the governor and they had different rule and regulations all together.
Article 370 of the Indian constitution provides special status to the Jammu and Kashmir, which was a state from 1954 to 2019, till when the state was having a special status with a separate constitution, a separate Flag and had control over the administration of the state India has due significance over the part of Kashmir and has largely acquired the part of Kashmir. Since the independence the Kashmir region is in dispute between India ,Pakistan and partly of china.
The Article 370 was drafted in the part XXI of the Indian constitution by the name Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions when this thing got implemented the special status of the Jammu and Kashmir got revoked and then these two became a union territory.
ARTICLE 35A
Historically Article 35A was added to the Indian constitution by presidential order by Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 14th May, 1954.This article allows the Jammu and Kashmir state legislature to define the list of permanent residents of the state who are eligible to vote for the state govt., who can own land and they can secure public employment and acquire college admissions. Those are non-permanent residents; they are denied all these privileges. Article 35A doesn’t allow anyone to acquire property in Jammu and Kashmir. Then on 5th August 2019, 35A got abolished.
BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS
Kashmir had dual citizenship (Indian and Kashmir), they have a different flag and elections are conducted in every 6 years. Criticizing Indian flag was not a crime in Jammu, Supreme Court rules were not applicable in Jammu, if a girl marries a person from different state, she loses her Kashmiri citizenship and if she marries to a Pakistani person, he gets Kashmir citizenship. Because of the Article, Rights to information act was not applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, In Kashmir no reservations for minorities, no people from other states can buy property in Kashmir. By scrapping Article 370, there won’t be any dual citizenship, only Indian and all central laws are applicable in Kashmir now. No separate laws for Jammu and Kashmir anymore, people from different states can buy land there and financial emergencies can be declared. There will be a single Indian national flag and elections will be conducted for every five years and police will be allocated by the central govt.
BENEFITS
- In Kashmir they didn’t have competition for selling anything as no outsider can set up any manufacturing unit or sell their goods. Kashmir did not face the problem of over population.
- Now there is a new market for investors as they are free to sell anything. Earlier there were a lot of limitations in the hotel industry. Now there will be a boom in the hotel industry.
- Now the military expenses will have a down fall.
DRAWBACKS
No proper medical facilities, no private hospitals. Employment opportunities were very low as lot of youth used to opt terrorism as there was no industrial sector and they had no jobs. More corruption and low GDP as compared to other states. There was also criticism that Article 370 favored men more over women. Indian govt. used to have command over defense, foreign affairs, finance and communications because of article. Article 370 has a special status that Indian govt. gave them so that they can support India over Pakistan. During 1962, China acquired 10 % of Kashmir and kept it as Aksai Chin and Pakistan acquired 30% and India has control only over rest 60%. When Article was introduced, it was kept as a temporary provision that is why they have got the chance now to scrap it. This stood impact on 35A as well because it was made by Kashmir govt. in 1950’s where it talks about locals and non-local’s bifurcation in terms of voting rights, education system, employment, etc. Now India has full control over 60% of Kashmir.
IMPORTANT EVENTS DURING THE COURSE OF ARTICLE 370 AND 35-A
On 26 October, 1947 Maharaja Hari Singh and the Indian government signed the “Instrument Of Succession”, this practice was also used for other princely states too with them we too signed the instrument of succession and princely states were also integrated into the territory of India when Maharaja Hari Singh signed the instrument of succession from that day itself Jammu and Kashmir became the integral part of India after this Indian government sent the army to Jammu and Kashmir and then after Pakistan army got scrapped away. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel said that India is in a state of war with Pakistan , but Jawaharlal Nehru said that he didn’t want violence that time so he told Mohammad Ali Jinnah that we have signed “Instrument Of Succession” with Maharaja Hari Singh and now Jammu and Kashmir is part of India, Jinnah refused to accept the fact that Jammu and Kashmir is a integral part of india and said we are in a state of war where we claim the Jammu and Kashmir territory.
RESULTS
- Earlier there were special powers possessed by the Jammu and Kashmir citizens but now after the removal of Article 370 there are no such powers possessed as such.
- Earlier there was dual citizenship available to the people of Jammu and Kashmir citizens. Now after the removal of Article 370 there is only single citizenship available.
- Earlier there was a separate flag for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Now after the removal of Article 370 there is only one Flag that is the tricolor flag The Flag of India.
- Before the implementation of Article 370 ,Article 356 was not applicable.After removal of Article 370 article 356 got implemented.
- Before the financial emergency was not applicable.
- Before there was no reservations for minorities .Now minorities are eligible for reservation.
- Earlier people outside of Jammu and Kashmir state were not able to buy land in J&K. Now they have got the privilege to buy some amount of land in J&K.
- Before the right to information was not applicable .Now Right to information is available to the people.
- Before the time period of the legislative assembly was for a period of 6 years .Now time period that is the duration it is around 5 Years bin the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir
CONCLUSION
There were very significant changes which took place in the course of implementation of the Article 370 and a lot of efforts have been made by the Indian government to eradicate the terrorism in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The best thing in my view is that terrorism has been suppressed. A lot of fatalities related to militancy have seen a seen a significant drop over the Year which is really a good sign for the sake of mankind.
Since ages the land of Jammu and Kashmir was a disputed in between India and Pakistan, straight away from the partition both countries claimed the land but things were not on the Right foot so the leaders of both the countries Rajendra Prasad and Mohammad Ali Jinnah went into a state of war, Rajendra Prasad was quite worried about the situation at first and talked to the Maharaja of J&K Hari Singh then after discussion with the PM handed over the place to India but on the other side Pakistan didn’t agree to the point and said Maharaja Hari Singh gave the territory in pressure and was not given in free will, then the PM of India straightaway went to UN for the resolution of matter but the matter is still pending as of now so in order to protect the territory of India Rajendra Prasad brought a presidential order that is Art 370 in order to protect the territory of India and safeguard the people from radical terrorism, then the J &K was a site with special status with a separate flag but they also needed to respect the Indian flag too, there was dual citizenship, given many privileges were given to the people residing in the state of Jammu and Kashmir
On the other hand Pakistan is not at all happy for revoking the special status over the territory of J&K and their PM Imran Khan said that the things done by the Indian government are illegal and added that they will go to every possible international organization in order to settle the dispute.
The steps taken by the Indian government are basically to control the Islamic population which is a majority in the union territory of J&K Region
The benefits which the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir are enjoying after the removal of Art 370 is that the citizens of J&K are now fully the part of India it is an attempt by the government to unite the people, from 2019 there is one constitution and the public private partnership will make a huge difference in the economy and there is now a boost in all the sectors.
One major point which we should focus upon is that now after scarping the Art 370 there in J&K there will be better education available to the youth. As we say the building blocks of a county depends upon the youth, if the youth is educated they can make a difference in the society which would ultimately reflect the progress of the county, better education institutions will setup , even international level schools and colleges will open in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
One more thing I would like to add as J&K is now a union territory the central government can now curb corruption and eliminate the things which are not required, which seems a pretty good idea in the overall development of a place.
REFERENCES
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/life-after-370-is-a-silent-crisis-simmering-in-kashmir/articleshow/70622668.cms