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| Congress losing ground by not supporting BJP, JKNPP & JSM | | JAMMU: A Fit Case For Delimitation -- I | | Neha
JAMMU, Mar 15: J&K Assembly again witnessed noisy scenes yesterday, with the legislators belonging to the BJP, the Panthers Party and the Jammu State Morcha (JSM) demanding delimitation of the Assembly constituencies and NC leader and Law Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar opposing them, saying they had made mountains out of the mole-hills. The upshot of the arguments advanced by these Jammu-based legislators was that the number of villages in Jammu province is more as compared to Kashmir, that geographical area of Jammu province is almost two times that of Kashmir and that the number of voters in Jammu province is almost two lakh more as compared to Kashmir. Jammu province has more 600 villages as compared to Kashmir.
Is the demand of the Jammu-based legislators genuine and justifiable? It is. The people of Jammu province have been discriminated against. There is no doubt about it. Their political representation in the Assembly has been diluted due to the absence of delimitation based on the criteria laid down by the Representation of People's Act (RPA). Those at the helm have all along played with the census figures in order to ensure more than fifty per cent representation to Kashmir in the Assembly. The story of the 2001 census was no different. It has all through been the charge of the people of Jammu province that the "Kashmiri leaders always fudged the census figures with a view to harming their interests". They do not cross the line when they say that "it is this under-representation which is responsible for their all round neglect". They also make a valid point when they say that "it is the composition and complexion of the Assembly which shapes the politico-administrative and socio-economic policies of the state" and that they must be given due share of representation in the Assembly.
It may be emphasized that the people of Jammu have been demanding since 1951 "due share in the Assembly strictly in accordance with the criteria laid down by the RPA - land area, voters/population and nature of terrain and accessibility".
The area of Jammu Province is 26,293 sq km. According to the 2002 voters list, there were 30, 59,986 voters in the Jammu province, whose terrain is also very difficult and treacherous. Bulk of the area of this province is inaccessible in the absence of proper road network. As for Kashmir, it has an area of 15,953 sq km. The number of voters in this province was 28, 83,550. As for the accessibility and communication network, Kashmir is very fortunate in terms of road connectivity and accessibility.
Till 2002, Jammu used to return two members to the Lok Sabha and 37 to the Assembly at the rate one per 15.59 lakh voters and 84,270 voters, respectively. In contrast, Kashmir had the privilege of returning three members to the Lok Sabha and 46 to the Assembly at the rate of one per 9.61 lakh voters and 62,673 voters, respectively.
Kashmir had 46 Assembly segments at the rate of one per 344 sq km on an average and Jammu 37 Assembly segments at the rate of one per 710 sq km on an average. This is the root cause of conflict between Kashmir and Jammu. The people of Jammu province always complain that "it is the Kashmir's excessive share of representation in the Assembly which has deprived them of their legitimate due share in the state's political, economic and social processes".
If we go by the July 6, 2006 Cabinet decision, which proposed to increase the number of seats by 25 per cent each in Kashmir and Jammu, then it would automatically mean 58 seats for Kashmir, as against the existing 46 seats, at the rate of one per 275.05 sq km and 49,723 voters on an average. In other words, it would mean an increase of 12 seats. As far as Jammu is concerned, it would only get 46 seats, as against the existing 37 seats, at the rate of one per 571.58 sq km and 66,000.52 voters.
The people of Jammu province have protested several times against this Cabinet decision, saying this order, if implemented, would further increase the difference in the number of seats between Kashmir and Jammu from the existing difference of 9 to 12 seats. Fortunately, however, no one now talks of that July 6, 2006 Cabinet decision. Thanks to the bitter opposition in Jammu.
Yet another issue of immediate concern is the controversial census operation carried on in the state in 2001. Several political groups accused the State Government of "fudging" the census figures. According to this census, the population of Kashmir was 54,76,970 and that of Jammu 44,30,191. As for Kashmir, the break-up was like this: Srinagar - 12,02,447, Budgam - 6,29,309, Anantnag - 11,72,434, Pulwama --- 6,52,607, Baramulla - 11,69,780 and Kupwara --- 6,50,393. As for Jammu province, the break up is: Jammu - 15,88,772, Udhampur - 7,43,509, Kathua - 5,50,084, Poonch - 3,72,613, Rajouri - 4,83,284 and Doda --- 6,91,929. This shows that population difference between Kashmir and Jammu was 10,46,779. It was a huge, huge difference.
A number of political formations, including the BJP, the JKNPP and the JSM (P) repeatedly assert that the population of Jammu province is equal to Kashmir, if not more. It is universally acknowledged that more the population more the number of voters. In 2002, the number of voters in Kashmir was 28,83,550, which also included approximately 1.5 lakh Kashmiri Hindu and Kashmiri Sikh voters, who have been exercising their franchise in exile since 1990, when their communities were forced to quit Kashmir by fundamentalists. In Jammu, the number of voters was 30,59,986. That means Jammu had 1,76,436 more voters as compared to Kashmir.
In 2008, Kashmir had, according to the State's Chief Electoral Officer, 32,60,663 voters. As for Jammu, the number of voters was 30,84,417. In other words, while the number of voters in Kashmir increased by 1,00,867, the number of voters in Jammu increased by only 24,431 votes.
It was the startling revelation made by the Chief Electoral Officer, B.R. Sharma, at a time when the 2008 agitation in Jammu was at its zenith, which made several political and social groups to question the assertion of Kashmiri leaders that the "Valley has more population". They interpreted the assertion of the Valley leadership as "ridiculous" and misleading. They pointed out that the population difference between Kashmir and Jammu had never been so huge between 1941 and 1991 and went on to say that the population of Jammu was more as compared to Kashmir in 1941. They had said that it was true that many Muslims migrated from Jammu to Pakistan in 1947 in the wake of the country's communal partition, but they also stated that it was equally true that nearly hundred per cent non-Muslims, including Hindus and Sikhs, from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir migrated to Jammu the same year to escape their physical liquidation at the hands of the votaries of the two-nation theory. They repeatedly bemoaned that "the Kashmiri leadership, in collaboration with the Union Government, manipulated 43 seats for Kashmir in 1951 and Jammu was forced to remain content with just 30 seats". There was no census in Jammu and Kashmir in 1951. Whatever the Kashmiri leadership did was an arbitrary action. (To be concluded) —Early Times Report |
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