With Amit Shah at helm, Home Ministry plans ‘Hindu moves’ in Jammu & Kashmir

June 5, 2019

New Delhi, Jun 5: With Jammu and Kashmir high on agenda, the Narendra Modi government is reportedly toying with the idea of conducting the stalled delimitation exercise to redraw Assembly constituencies in the troubled state to address "regional disparity and anomalies".

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) may appoint a delimitation commission to carry out the exercise and it could end up in reversing the present scenario by giving more seats to Jammu region. At present, Kashmir region has 46 seats while Jammu region has 37 and Ladhak four.

In case the government goes ahead with the plan, some sections believe, it would enable non-Muslims from Jammu region to become Chief Minister of the state which has only seen Muslim Chief Ministers and help BJP to spread its wings in the state. Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad was the only Chief Minister from Jammu region.

The delimitation exercise is considered part of BJP's plans for Kashmir where it wants to repeal both Article 370 that provides for special status to the state and Article 35(A) that gives special rights to Kashmiris.

However, MHA sources said there was no discussion in the Ministry on the issue of delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, "distressed to hear about GoI (Government of India) plan to redraw assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir. Forced delimitation is an obvious attempt to inflict another emotional partition of the state on communal lines. Instead of allowing old wounds to heal, Government of India is inflicting pain on Kashmiris."

National Conference chief Omar Abdullah said, "when delimitation takes place in the rest of the country the BJP is welcome to apply it to Jammu and Kashmir until then we will oppose, tooth and nail, any attempt to make changes without a mandate from the people of the state."

Officials have already briefed Home Minister Amit Shah about the security situation across the country, especially in Jammu and Kashmir which is under President's Rule. While the government is not in a hurry to conduct elections Jammu and Kashmir, the President's Rule is likely to be extended for another six months on July 3.

Reportedly, the government is keen on embarking on the delimitation exercise, which is on freeze since 2002, to address allegations of regional disparity. The last such exercise was held in 1995 and as per Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, another delimitation should have been done in 2005.

However, Farooq Abdullah-led government in 2002 chose to freeze delimitation until 2026 through an amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution. Owing to its special status, Jammu and Kashmir has a separate Constitution and penal code.

To enable the conduct of the exercise, the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir has to be amended and with the state under President's Rule, sources claimed, the Governor has powers to do so as the legislative authority is vested with the Raj Bhavan when it does not have a functioning Assembly.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
June 2,2020

Singapore, Jun 2: Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday downgraded 11 Indian banks along with as many non-financial companies and infrastructure majors besides four government-related issuers following a downgrade of the Indian government's issuer rating to Baa3 from Baa2 with a negative outlook.

The rapid and widening spread of the coronavirus outbreak, deteriorating global economic outlook, volatile oil prices and asset price declines are creating a severe and extensive credit shock across many sectors, regions and markets, said Moody's.

The Indian banking sector has been affected given the disruptions to India's economic activity from the coronavirus outbreak, which is weakening borrowers' credit profiles, it added.

The 11 lenders include Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Export-Import Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, IndusInd Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India and Union Bank of India.

The 11 non-finance companies are Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Oil India, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Petronet LNG, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Reliance Industries, UPL Corporation and Genpact.

The 11 infrastructure companies are NTPC, NHPC, National Highways Authority of India, Power Grid Corporation, Gail India, Adani Green Energy Restricted Group (RG-2), Adani Transmission Restricted Group, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Transmission, Adani Electricity Mumbai and Azure Power Solar Energy.

The four Indian government-related issuers are Indian Railway Finance Corporation, Housing and Urban Development Corporation, Power Finance Corporation and REC Ltd.

"Government-related issuers in India have been affected because of disruptions to India's economy which will weaken borrowers' credit profiles," said Moody's.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor on Tuesday questioned the Nitish Kumar government's development model, even as he sneered at the chief minister for making ideological compromises to stay in an alliance with the BJP.

Kishor, who has been vocal about his opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), said Kumar needs to spell out whether he is with the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi or those who support Nathu Ram Godse.

"Nitish ji has always said that he cannot leave the ideals of Gandhi, JP and Lohiya... At the same time, how can he be with the people who support the ideology of Godse? Both cannot go together. If you want to stay with the BJP, I don't have any problem with it but you cannot be on both sides," he said.

"There has been a lot of discussion between me and Nitish-ji on this. He has his thought process and I have mine. There have been differences between him and me that the ideologies of Godse and Gandhi cannot stand together. As the leader of the party you have to say which side you are on," he added.

In a direct assault on Kumar's model of governance, Kishor said Bihar was the poorest state in 2005 and continues to be so.

"There has been development in Bihar during the last 15 years, but the pace has not been as it should have," he added.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 1,2020

Feb 1: The Congress on Saturday expressed hope that the Union Budget would provide relief to the salaried class through tax cuts and invest in rural India besides providing a healing touch to the common man and industry facing “hardship” since demonetisation.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the last budget led to crashing consumption levels, soaring unemployment and falling GDP. “Budget 2019= Consumption crashed, Unemployment soared, Farm distress surged, Incomes declined, Investments slumped, Public spending fell, GDP nose dived!,” Surjewala tweeted. “Yet, Modiji gave Corporate Tax Cuts of Rs 1,45,000 crore. Let Budget 2020 give tax cuts to Salaried Class and invest in Rural India,” he said

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot hoped the budget fulfils expectations of the common people. “Budget 2020 is the time for NDA government to provide a healing touch to common people and industries facing hardships since noteban. Hope the budget fulfils expectations of common people and provide relief across sections,” Gehlot said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.