| Article 35A negates Preamble of Constitution, hurts J&K daughter | | International Women Day | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 7: Tomorrow is International Women Day. People will talk about women and their empowerment, as also about equality between man and woman at all levels and in all spheres. The ruling PDP and BJP and the opposition Congress, the NC, the CPI-M and who not would also talk about women empowerment and would claim that they did this and they did that for women of the state, who constitute half of the state's population. But it would be a false claim.
There exists in the Indian Constitution a provision that makes an invidious and unjust distinction between males and females of J&K. It is Article 35A, which is against the very basic structure of the Constitution. Its Preamble, among other things, says - "Equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all". The J&K Constitution also says the same thing, and verbatim. But these pious words are included in the Preambles alone.
When it comes J&K, neither the Union Government nor the J&K Government enforces what the Preambles say in unambiguous terms, thus denying the daughters of the state an equal status with males. And, this, notwithstanding the fact that the archaic State Subject laws make no distinction between male and female residents of the state. These laws nowhere refer to daughters of the state; these only say "Permanent Residents".
What is the actual position? The actual position is that if a male Permanent Resident marries women from outside J&K, she automatically becomes a Permanent Resident of the State and she and her children exercise all rights in the state. But in case a daughter of the state marries a person from outside the state, her husband and children can't exercise any citizenship right in the state.
It is strange that even our justice system has denied justice to the daughters of J&K.
It would be only desirable if the powers-that-be in the state and at the Centre do away with the discriminatory Article 35A to establish parity between male and female Permanent Residents. |
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