GD and Essay Topics: Article 370

With the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the residents of J&K will not hold dual citizenship and will be treated just like the other citizens of India.

By Harsh Jha

This article was first published on October 12, 2020.

India gained its independence from British rule in 1947. It was then that many presidencies, including Deccan, Mysore and Madras joined the India union. While some were forced to hitch, some got a choice of sorts. Kashmir, given a large fraction of population being Muslims, was forced to join either of the forces on their sides, i.e., India or Pakistan. By October 1949, Article 370 was added to the Indian constitution on a short-lived basis under Maharaja Hari Singh and Congress leader Sheikh Abdullah, and ever since that day, Article 370 has been an element of Jammu and Kashmir rule. However, things changed in 2019, when the Central government eliminated this Article, bringing about a change in the valley.

What is Article 370?

• Article 370 of the Indian Constitution allows the state government of Jammu & Kashmir to form its laws in all the matters except finance, defence, foreign affairs and communications.
• This Article allows Kashmir to have a constitution and a flag of its own. It also restricts the right of ownership or citizenship to any outsider or visitor or non-resident. 
• It means that the residents of the state have to follow different laws from the rest of the country in matters like property ownership and citizenship.

How is Article 35A connected to Article 370?

• Article 35A was introduced in 1954 to continue the old benefits of the territory regulations under Article 370 of the Indian constitution.
• The article permits the local legislature in India-administered Kashmir to define permanent residents of the region.
• It forbids outsiders from permanently settling, buying land, holding authorities jobs or winning education scholarships within the region.
• The article, named because the Permanent Residents Law, also bars female residents of Jammu and Kashmir from property rights within the event that they marry an individual from outside the state.
• Article 370 and 35A gave the local legislature an enormous amount of power like no other state in the country.

Why were Article 370 and 35A abrogated within the year 2019?

Article 370 wasn't designed to be permanent, but there have been lot of reasons to abrogate it. These include:

• To prevent terrorist operations across the border
• To prevent human rights violations within the state
• To maintain law and order
• To develop a way of inclusion for the people of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union of India
• To develop the state economically and make it socially stable

What was the impact of abrogating Article 370?

With the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the residents of J&K will not hold dual citizenship and will be treated just like the other citizens of India. Now that the citizenship clause is not applicable, it effectively removes all the added privileges and causes for discrimination that was related to the title.

One of the most important boons was that the non-J&K residents couldn't buy land within the state. Thus, those individuals, living in J&K have ample resources that were not utilised by them to possess a secure home. The worst sufferers during this equation were women, who lost rights to their land if they married a person outside the state. Moreover, even her children weren't entitled to inherit the land. On the contrary, a Kashmiri man was liberated to marry any woman hailing from any state and retain the rights on his land.

A non-J&K resident was neither allowed to participate in state legislative elections nor was he allowed to contest.

The non-J&K residents couldn't take admission in professional courses for post-graduation since state universities in Jammu and Kashmir demand a Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC). Moreover, they were not entitled to any aids or scholarships by the government to use during a government job, a permanent residency is required so that wasn’t possible which has been rectified now.

Any laws enacted by the Parliament weren't automatically made applicable to the state. Hence, backward communities within the state, including the SCs and STs weren't granted the advantages which the Indian Constitution otherwise gives them. Even rights like Right to Education and Right to Information   applicable within the state. More so than this, the middle had no power to declare a financial emergency within the state but all of it is gone for good now, Kashmir enjoys the same rule and regulation as the other states in the country.

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