The Lok Sabha, the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, passed two bills on Wednesday. These bills are primarily geared towards introducing and implementing reservations for historically disadvantaged groups. These groups include the scheduled castes, tribes, and other socially and educationally disadvantaged classes, directly impacting the legislative assembly, employment, and professional institutions within the territories of Jammu and Kashmir. Reservation policies in India adhere to a system of affirmative action, which aims to provide representation for such disadvantaged groups.
The bills in question are the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Jammu and Kashmir Re-organisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to amend the existing Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004. The aim of the amending bill is to modify the term “weak and under-privileged classes (social castes)” to “other backward classes”. Additionally, the bill proposes to remove the definition of weak and underprivileged classes from the act entirely. Details here.
India’s Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, has spoken in Parliament, asserting that these two bills will bring justice to those deprived of their rights for the last 70 years and give a voice to the displaced people. More on his comments here.
The Jammu and Kashmir Re-organisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which proposes major changes to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, also received the assent of the lower house. This bill will increase the number of seats in the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly from 83 to 90. This includes nine seats for scheduled tribes and seven for scheduled castes. In a further progressive measure, one member representing displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir may be nominated to the legislative assembly by the lieutenant governor.
In a significant development in 2019, India’s federal government repealed Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, which conferred regional autonomy, as a method to pacify land disputes over the region between India and Pakistan. This resulted in the bifurcation into two Union territories.
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