Govt brings Bills on migrants, SCs, Tribals & OBCs in J&K
The first bill aims to empower the lieutenant governor to nominate two members from the Kashmiri migrant community, including a woman, and one member from the displaced persons of PoJK to the assembly. The second and third bills pertain to the Sch...
New Delhi: The Union government introduced four bills on Jammu and Kashmir in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, including on representation of Kashmiri migrants, displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied J&K (PoJK) and Scheduled Tribes in the legislative assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 empowers the lieutenant governor to nominate two members, including a woman, from the Kashmiri migrant community and one member from the displaced persons from PoJK to the J&K legislative assembly.
As per the data available with the J&K administration, there are currently 46,517 families having 1,58,976 persons registered with the Relief Organisation of the government of Jammu and Kashmir, who got registered in the past three decades. In the wake of the Pakistani aggression in J&K in 1947, 31,779 families migrated from Pakistan-occupied areas of J&K to the erstwhile state of J&K.
Of these, 26,319 families settled in J&K and the remaining 5,460 moved to other parts of the country. During the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971, 10,065 more families were displaced from Chhamb Niabat area. Of these, 3,500 families were displaced during the 1965 war and 6,565 families during the 1971 war.
A total of 41,844 families were displaced during 1947-48, 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars, according to the statement of objects and reasons.
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The second and third bills pertains to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in J&K. Amid sloganeering by the opposition over the Manipur issue, social justice and empowerment minister Virendra Kumar introduced the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order Bill 2023, while tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda introduced the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill 2023.
The Bill on SCs seeks to include the Valmiki community as a synonym of Chura, Bhangi, Balmiki and Mehtar in the list of Scheduled Castes of J&K. The Bill on STs aims to revise the list of Scheduled Tribes of Jammu and Kashmir.
The fourth Bill piloted by union home ministry proposes to amend section 2 of the Reservation Act by the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 so as to change the nomenclature of "weak and under privileged classes (social castes)" to "other backward classes" and to make consequential amendment in clause (q), of section 2 of the Act.
