Article 370 to Stay in Jammu and Kashmir! Government Says There is no Proposal to Scrap it
The State's Constituent Assembly was empowered to recommend the articles of the Indian constitution to be applied to the state or to abrogate the Article 370 altogether.
Jammu, March 27: The government on Tuesday said that there is no proposal to scrap Article 370 of the Constitution which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir made the assertion while replying to a written question from BJP MP Ashwini Kumar in Lok Sabha. "There is currently no such proposal under consideration of the government," Ahir added.
The Article 370 of the Indian constitution gives autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The State's Constituent Assembly was empowered to recommend the articles of the Indian constitution to be applied to the state or to abrogate the Article 370 altogether.
The article, added to the Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954, accords special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and empowers its legislature to frame any law without attracting a legal challenge. It must be noted that the provision prohibits all Indians -- except people from Jammu and Kashmir -- from purchasing immovable property in the state, getting government jobs and availing state-sponsored scholarship schemes.
In 2017, J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti after meeting PM Modi said that he has given "100 per cent assurance" to the PDP-BJP government's Agenda of Alliance which says there will be "no fiddling" with Article 370. After a 15-minute meeting with the Prime Minister, Mehbooba said, "That is the basis of the agenda and no one can go against it. The response of the prime minister is positive. The prime minister gave 100 per cent assurance to the Agenda of Alliance”.
Mehbooba’s meeting with the Prime Minister last year came in the backdrop of the debate on Article 35A of the Constitution that grants special status to the state and is being challenged in the Supreme Court. The chief minister was quoted by PTI saying that she had told the prime minister about the difficult situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also that the situation was improving gradually.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 27, 2018 03:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).