Lok Sabha Passes the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Amendment Bill 2023, and the J&K Reorganization Amendment Bill 2023

Context: Lok Sabha passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Amendment Bill, 2023, and Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Amendment Bill, 2023.

About Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Amendment Bill 2023

• The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Amendment Bill, 2023, amends the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act of 2004. 
  • The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act of 2004 provides for job reservation and admission in professional institutions to members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other socially and educationally backward classes.  

What are the key features of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Amendment Bill 2023?

• Socially and educationally backward classes: Under the Act, socially and educationally backward classes include: 
  • (i) people residing in villages declared as socially and educationally backward by the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir, 
  • (ii) people residing in areas adjoining the Actual Line of Control and International Border, and 
  • (iii) weak and under-privileged classes (social castes), as notified.  
• Commission’s Authority for Classification: The government may make inclusions or exclusions from the category of weak and under-privileged classes, on the recommendations of a Commission.  
• Omission of Previous Definition: The Bill substitutes weak and underprivileged classes with other backward classes as declared by the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. The definition of weak and underprivileged classes is deleted from the Act.

About Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Amendment Bill 2023

• It amends the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.  
• Objective: The Act provides for the reorganization of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature).

What are the key features of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Amendment Bill 2023?

• Number of seats in the Legislative Assembly: 
  • The Second Schedule of the Representation of the People Act, of 1950 provides for the number of seats in legislative assemblies.
  • The 2019 Act amended the Second Schedule of the 1950 Act to specify the total number of seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly to be 83.  
    • Resevation: It reserved six seats for Scheduled Castes. No seats were reserved for Scheduled Tribes.  
  • Number of Seats: The Bill increases the total number of seats to 90. It also reserves seven seats for Scheduled Castes and nine seats for Scheduled Tribes. 
  • Nomination of Kashmiri Migrants: The Bill adds that the Lieutenant Governor may nominate up to two members from the Kashmiri migrant community to the Legislative Assembly.  
    • One of the nominated members must be a woman.  
  • Migrants also include individuals who have not been registered due to: 
    • Being in government service in any moving office, 
    • Having left for work, or 
    • Possessing immovable property at the place from where they migrated but are unable to reside there due to disturbed conditions.
• Nomination of displaced persons: 
  • The Bill adds that the Lieutenant Governor may nominate one member representing displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir to the Legislative Assembly. 
    • Such displacement should have occurred in 1947-48, 1965, or 1971 due to civil disturbances or fear of such disturbances.  These include successors-in-interest of such persons.
    • Displaced persons refer to individuals who left or were displaced from their place of residence in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and continue to reside outside such a place.  

Also Read: On Jammu And Kashmir And Statehood

Source: PIB

DOWNLOAD PDF