Jammu & Kashmir

Abrogation of State Subject Law will result in demographic, socio-economic change, says NC

Srinagar: National Conference on Tuesday called the attempts to abrogate Article 35-A anti-youth and catastrophic to socio-economic structure of Jammu and Kashmir.

National Conference denigrated the attempts to dilute the special provisions promised by Article 35-A while underscoring the point that employment rate in J&K was among the lowest.

“Our youth have no opportunities of jobs, our businesses are always in doldrums due to the prevalent scenario. Now does New Delhi want to snatch whatever little we have here for our people?” the party’s Provincial Spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar questioned.

“Out of 14 DM seats in our state, 9 have been allotted to doctors from outside the state. This scenario not only deprives doctors from J&K of higher education opportunities but has an immediate and long term implication which has catastrophic consequences for health care sector in the state,” he said.

“With people from across the country free to contend for a job or a seat in educational institute here opportunities for states populace will shrink inevitably.”

Calling the move to abrogate Art. 35-A, which was incorporated in the Constitution through a Presidential order to safeguard the welfare of the people of J&K, atrocious, Imran said, “Now with abrogation of Article 35-A hanging in the air, there are apprehensions that it might not just change the demographics but will bring about socio economic devastation in Jammu & Kashmir where jobs, employment opportunities, scholarships will become a dream for our youth.”

A clear example of this is NIT Srinagar which used to be Regional Engineering College earlier, he said. “Before being a national institute, this college was exclusively admitting students from the state only. Currently states seat share stands at mere 40 percent. The remaining 60 percent having students from across the country,” he said adding, “If Art 35 A is scrapped, all our educational institutes both in Jammu and Srinagar will have to face same consequences wherein students from other parts of country will push our youth to the wall.”

He said that any changes in the Article will be catastrophic for the whole state and not just for the valley.

“Some sections of media and political parties aligned with the right wing are making the concern look like an issue confined to Kashmir region. Whether it’s a youngster from Srinagar, Jammu or Ladakh, everyone will be equally hit if the Article is fiddled with.”

 

Click to comment
To Top