Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, today appealed to the government to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. He was speaking on a Bill to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
He listed several problems faced by the people of Jammu and Kashmir, due to the conversion from State to Union Territory. Nabi told the House that thousands of physical training teachers, with qualifications of up to MPhil and PhD, were being paid on Rs 3,000 per month for the last seven year. He appealed to the Home Minister to look into the matter as even with such good qualification, the teachers were getting a very low salary, making it difficult for them to survive. He added that some of these teachers have to borrow money from their near and dear to take care of daily expenses.
The problem of unemployment has aggravated with schools and colleges closed for over a year after the scrapping of Article 370 of Constitution, Nabi lamented. He questioned the government about the failure to create employment after the formation of Union Territories after splitting Jammu and Kashmir. He reminded the government that it had claimed that after the scrapping of Article 370.
The Leader of the Opposition explained that the restriction on purchase of land by non-residents of the state, was brought in by the then rule of Jammu and Kashmir Raja Hari Singh to protect the land and the forest of the region. “Most of the land mass of Jammu and Kashmir is hilly or forest, with very little plain land available,” Nabi stated.
He said that some members of the House had stated during the debate on the scrapping of Article 370, that they would know be able to buy land in the region. “How many of those not domicile of Jammu and Kashmir have bought land in Jammu and Kashmir, after the scrapping of Article 370,” he asked continuing, “land sells around Rs 40 crore a acre in Srinagar and Jammu, probably the highest in the country.” He added that this was because of the acute scarcity of land in the region.
He reminded the House that the youth and women of Jammu and Kashmir had fought the Pakistanis, when the invaded the state in 1947. “It took 22 days for the Indian army to reach Jammu and Kashmir, but during that entire period the local youth and women kept the Pakistani intruders at bay. Women were trained to fire guns. These Muslims did not wish to join Pakistan after the partition and fought the Pakistanis,” Nabi said.
On the attempts to divide the people of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of religion, Nabi stated that the people of the region were together irrespective of whether they are Hindus, Muslims, Christians or Buddhists.
He informed the House that though there is a Muslim majority in Jammu and Kashmir, over 70 per cent of the top positions of bureaucracy are with the Hindus. “Over several decades I have seen that all the Chief Ministers of the state had Hindu officers as Chief and Principal Secretary,” he added.
Nabi emphasised the need to have an elected assembly with a Chief Minister for the benefit of the people, as the people should have the choice of approaching a legislator to look into their problems. “Today, in the absence of legislators, the people are finding it difficult to get their problems resolved. The presence of elected representatives would have been helpful during the COVID 19 pandemivce,” Nabi said.