LAND UNLOCKED

The new land laws promulgated by the central government for Jammu and Kashmir have triggered a new wave of insecurity, reports Umar Mukhtar

- Umar Mukhtar

On October 26, the Government of India introduced new land laws in Jammu and Kashmir that have made land in the erstwhile state available for purchase by the outsiders.

Before the reading down of Article 370 and 35 A, the permanent residents of the Jammu and Kashmir had guaranteed land rights. Under Article 35A the Jammu and Kashmir legislature had the authority to define permanent residents of the erstwhile state. When the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution was adopted in 1956, it defined a permanent resident as someone who was a state subject on May 14, 1954, or who has been a resident of the state for 10 years, and has lawfully acquired immovable property. So under this clause, no outsider could own property in Jammu and Kashmir or get a job.

New land laws took Kashmir by surprise. People from Jammu and Kashmir termed the move as ‘anti-people’. However, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, claimed that agricultural lands were not up for sale to non-local buyers. The amendments, he said, are aimed at encouraging investment.

“I want to say this forcefully and with full responsibility that agricultural land has been kept reserved for farmers; no outsider will come on those lands,” Sinha told reporters. In Jammu and Kashmir, less than half of the land falls under agriculture with forest land as the major chunk of the available land.

The legal experts in Kashmir, however, say the new laws are against the interests of the domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir.