Rajya Sabha today passed The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021. It will replace Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance of 2021 which merged the Jammu and Kashmir cadre of the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, and Indian Forest Service with the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territory cadre, also known as AGMUT cadre. The President had promulgated the ordinance last month to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
While discussing on the bill, Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said, “In the last two years, speedy development has taken place in Jammu and Kashmir. Government has taken revolutionary and historical decisions for development of Jammu & Kashmir. After independence, for the first time Block Development Council elections were held there, where 98 percent voters took part. Also, for development of villages, one thousand crore was provided under MGNREGA.”
Then Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad recalled the Government’s assurance that Statehood will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir. He said, “If the present cadre was working well so far then why Government wants to merge it. Bringing the bill makes it clear that the Government wants to permanently keep Jammu and Kashmir as Union Territory.”
“No new industries have been set up in Jammu & Kashmir. 7,107 industries have shut down there and new industries have not come,” Azad concluded.
Manoj Jha of RJD, Ashok Siddharth of BSP, Sushil Gupta of AAP, Shamsher Singh Manhas of BJP, Mir Mohammed Fayaz of PDP, Amar Patnaik of BJD participated in the discussion on bill.
