The Lok Sabha has approved the Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, to ensure “rights to those who faced injustice” and were deprived of their rights in the Union Territory. Union Minister Amit Shah, addressing the Lok Sabha on the Bills, highlighted that one of them aims to advocate for individuals who became refugees within their own country. Additionally, the legislation reserves a seat in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for individuals displaced from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“Earlier there were 37 seats in Jammu, now there are 43. Earlier there were 46 in Kashmir, now there are 47 and in PoK, 24 seats have been reserved since PoK is ours,” he said. Announcing the distribution of seats, Amit Shah said, “Two seats will be reserved for Kashmiri Migrant community members, and one seat in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly will be reserved for people displaced from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.”
“For the first time, 9 seats will be reserved for SC/ST communities…” Amit Shah said.
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Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023
-The Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 is aimed at amending the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004.
– Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 provided reservation in jobs and admission in professional institutions to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and other socially and educationally backward classes.
-The Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend the Section 2 of the 2004 Act.
-The amendment Bill suggests a change in the nomenclature of a section of people who were earlier described as “weak and under privileged classes (social castes)” to “other backward classes”.
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Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023
-The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 seeks to amend the 2019 Act and provide representation in the Legislative Assembly to the Kashmiri Migrants and displaced persons from the PoK.
-It seeks to nominate two members from the Kashmiri migrant community and one person representing the displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to the Legislative Assembly.
-The amendment Bill proposes to increase the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly to 90 from 83.
-The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 seeks to reserve seats for the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
-It seeks to insert new sections 15A and 15B in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 for the Lieutenant Governor to nominate not more than two members, one of whom shall be a woman, from the community of “Kashmiri Migrants” and one Member from “Displaced Persons from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir”, to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.