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| No to delimitation breeds trifurcation demand | | | The successive state Governments have hardly given any recognition to the demands of the BJP,JSM and the Panthers Party regarding setting up delimitation commission and for ending discrimination of the people of the Jammu region. During the last several days Assembly members belonging to these three parties have been raising their demand for delimitation commission, incorporation of 73rd and 74th amendments in the state Panchayati Raj Act and end of discrimination to the region of Jammu during the ongoing Assembly session. They do it either during the question or zero hour or during participating in the motion of thanks on the Governor's address or while participating in the discussion on the budget proposals.When these issues were raised in the Assembly recently the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs,Ali Mohd.Sagar,had nothing else to say excepting reminding the BJP of its silence when the then Government had not increased constituencies in the Jammu region in 2002-2006 when the National Conference was in the opposition.Even if Sagar was right the National Conference could rectify the wrong.If the National Conference is in favour of establishment of a new delimitation commission it can amend the state constitution to make null and void earlier restrictions on setting up the commission till 2026.
The National Conference can easily muster support of two-third Assembly members for securing amendment to the constitution. The NC-Congress strength in the House is 45 and with the support of five other MLAs its strength goes upto 50.For amending the state constitution the support of 60 MLAS is required and this the NC-Congress combine can get when 11 BJP and three Panthers Party MLAs besides one JSM member would support the constitutional amendment bill. Sagar’s sincerity or lack of it can be tested when the House takes up the Bill for amending section 47 of the state constitution. The Bill has been submitted by the Panthers Party MLA,Harsh Dev Singh.Even if the NC opposes the Bill as is expected of the Kashmir centric parties it may hardly have any adverse impact on the overall influence of the NC in the state. But the strength of the state unit of the Congress can suffer erosion if it opposed Harsh Dev's Bill.It is not yet clear whether the speaker will allow the Bill to be taken up for discussion.It is no longer a secret that the Kashmir centric political parties, especially the NC and the PDP,have been against any move that would increase the number of Assembly segments in the Jammu region.
If they support establishment of delimitation commission they know it well that the commission will recommend increase in the Assembly seats in the Jammu region to at least 47 because of Jammu's population and area which is more than the Kashmir valley. More Assembly seats for the Jammu region would mean more funds to be spent on development works in the region.At present Jammu region has 37 Assembly constituencies against 47 in the Kashmir valley.This way the region of Jammu loses over Rs.five crores per year which MLAs would have spent out of their constituency development fund had there been 47 segments for the Jammu region also.If each district was given representation in the council of ministers the share of the Jammu region would have been equal to Kashmir had there been parity in Assembly seats between the two provinces. Those who keep on campaigning against Jammu's discrimination argue that the region's share in the state services, especially in the civil secretariat, has always remained quite meager when compared to the valley.They say that while the Jammuites have a less than 25 per cent share in the Government jobs the valley has more than 65 per cent and Ladakh just five per cent. These political leaders belonging to the BJP,PP and the JSM believe that prolonged discrimination would end once the Assembly seats in the Jammu region were increased to the level we have in Kashmir. Opposition to this demand means opposition to Jammu region's development. It is because of this that the demand for trifurcation of the state or for statehood status for Jammu has been surfacing intermittently.
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