Jammu, the pawn on the Kashmir chessboard

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Jammu, the pawn on the Kashmir chessboard

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Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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•  New laws for J&K: Major legal and constitutional changes have been done, and things are subdued in Jammu region. August 5, 2019, saw the dilution of Articles 370 and 35A, and now new rules are ready.
• What Jammu thinks: It has been given high-doses of ultra-nationalism and integrationist politics, and believes that the duty of national security is its. Its growth in 70 years has suffered due to this "duty". Slowly, it changed into divisive politics, and then a counter-narrative to Kashmir. Its own aspirations were all gone.
• Diversity: Jammu's strength has been its pluralism and diversity, but now it swings between nationalism, polarisation and a sense of "discrimination" by Kashmiris. Then came COVID-19. But recently, Jammu has felt let down badly.
• Frozen economy: After August 5, 2019, the trade and economy went for a toss. Jammu too is facing the partial internet ban, wondering why it is being punished. And then came the Domicile Rules!
• Domicile rules: The March 30 rule talks about new domicile requirements, under the amended J&K Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act. Anyone who has lived in J&K for 15 yrs, or studied there for 7 yrs, gets a domicile right now. Central govt. employees' children also are eligible, if the parent(s) has served for a total of 10 yrs there. More than 100 J&K state laws too are amended. Delimitation process is now beginning, and gerrymandering will commence. Jammu people think they'll get a larger share of benefits then.
• One big change: The Agrarian Reforms Act is abolished, which had defined land ownership, and fixed the ceiling area at 12.5 standard acres. So all other Indians can now move in, especially the big real estate firms, which can totally change the balance in local economy, and hurt the ecology. Theoretically, outside businesses coming in may generate new jobs, but existing units working on temporary lease have given too few jobs to locals.
• Anxieties of Jammu: Most settlers who'll get benefits are already there - the 2 lakh West Pakistan refugees, many families of sanitation workers, and 29 lakh migrant workers. They earned more, and school education was free. Since Jammu is violence-free unlike Kashmir, more will settle here. So Jammu now fears a huge influx.
• Links with Kashmiri economy: Jammu's economy had deep links with its Kasmiri counterpart, something that's broken today. As for outside investment, what's happening in rest of India does not inspire confidence. 
• Dogra culture: The cosmopolitan Dogra culture may face a big challenge, but now Dogras feel their identity may go extinct.
• Delimitation's outcome: The Assembly has 25 seats reserved for Pak Administered Kashmir (PAK) since the 1950s. If they are allotted on the basis of area (and not population), and filled up by PAK refugees, then Jammu's share in Assembly goes up (compared to Kashmir's). That may bring the first Hindu CM for the region, but will it be a local person from Jammu?
• Jammu's political worth: It always was used to counter the Kashmiri politics. That has now been subdued totally. In the end, Jammu may not only lose it identity, but be overwhelmed by a new one. People have now begun realising this truth.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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