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| NC demands Autonomy, but what about finances? | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 17: The Valley-based National Conference (NC) has been demanding greater autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir on the ground that it is a Muslim-majority State. The people of Jammu and Ladakh, besides Kashmiri Hindus and other religious and ethnic minorities in the state, hate and abhor the idea of the state getting more autonomy, as they feel that the grant of more autonomy to the state would not just help the Pakistani cause in the state but would also enslave them. The NC has been saying that the application of central laws and institutions to the state has alienated the people of the state (read not the people of the state but a section of Kashmiri society) and that if the Kashmir issue is to be settled for all the times to come, New Delhi will have to respect the sentiments of the people.
It is strange that a state which cannot give even salary to his employees has been demanding autonomy from India to create an environment under which the jurisdiction of New Delhi will be restricted to only defence, communication and foreign affairs and the state's ruling elite will exercise all other powers. That the State Government has no money in its exchequer and that it depends only on the central funds could be seen from what Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said nine days ago. Omar Abdullah admitted that while the annual income of Jammu and Kashmir State is Rs 6,500 crore, the state' annual liability on staff salaries is Rs 13,500 crores and on pension Rs 2,000 crore, respectively.
Omar Abdullah distorts the Instrument of Accession when he says that it limits the jurisdiction of New Delhi over the state to just four subjects -- defence, foreign affairs, communication and finances. The Instrument of Accession nowhere talks about finances. Will he and his ilk look these facts on the face and stop attacking the Indian Constitution? |
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