The Kashmir Pulse

SRINAGAR — In a significant development for Jammu and Kashmir, the Rajya Sabha on Friday passed two bills aimed at fostering social inclusion and political representation in the Union Territory.

The first bill, the Jammu and Kashmir Local Bodies Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, received approval to provide reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Panchayats and Municipalities. Additionally, it empowers the State Election Commission to conduct Urban Local Bodies polls, a task previously held by the Chief Electoral Officer.

Introduced in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai on February 5, the bill was swiftly cleared by the Rajya Sabha via voice vote today, marking its immediate implementation.

Simultaneously, the Rajya Sabha endorsed the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which grants scheduled tribe (ST) status to Paharis and three other communities in the region. This bill, passed three days after its approval in the Lok Sabha, includes Paharis, Paddaris, Gadda Braman, and Koli communities in the Scheduled Tribes list of J&K.

The passage of these bills signifies a significant step toward inclusive governance and representation in the Union Territory. Both bills were cleared without contention.

The State Election Commission is now tasked with overseeing civic polls, ensuring fair representation for all segments of the population in local governance. This move underscores efforts to strengthen democratic processes and promote social equity in Jammu and Kashmir.

The administration has reiterated that the ST status granted to Paharis will not impact existing reservations for other tribal communities, including Gujjars and Bakarwals.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha affirmed on February 6, 2023, that the inclusion of these communities in the Scheduled Tribes list will not diminish current reservation levels. He assured that necessary notifications would be issued to ensure equitable reservation provisions for all eligible communities.

SRINAGAR — The Rajya Sabha made a significant move on Monday by passing The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2023, aiming to allocate 33 per cent of seats within the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for women.

According to the news agency KNS, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar permitted Ministry of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai to introduce the bill, which had already secured passage in the Lok Sabha the previous week.

The essence of The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2023 revolves around earmarking 33% of seats in both the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and the Puducherry Assembly for women, a pivotal step toward enhancing gender representation and inclusivity in legislative bodies.

Additionally, the Rajya Sabha also endorsed The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023. This amendment aims to introduce modifications to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, reflecting further changes within the region.

SRINAGAR — Union Home Minister Amit Shah presented two crucial bills, the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. These bills have already received clearance from the Lok Sabha, underscoring the government's commitment to address and enhance the socio-political landscape of the region.

The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, aims to bring about targeted modifications to the existing reservation policies in the region. While specific details of the amendments are yet to be disclosed, the move is anticipated to address issues related to equitable representation and opportunities for diverse communities in Jammu and Kashmir.

Simultaneously, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, proposes adjustments to the framework implemented during the reorganization of the erstwhile state in 2019. The reorganization, which resulted in the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories—Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh—was a watershed moment in the region's history.

As these bills make their way through the parliamentary process, they have already received approval from the Lok Sabha, indicative of a broad consensus among Members of Parliament on the necessity of these amendments.

The proposed changes are expected to play a pivotal role in shaping the future trajectory of Jammu and Kashmir, with an emphasis on inclusive development and governance.

The introduction of these bills by Union Home Minister Amit Shah signals a proactive approach by the government in addressing the unique challenges and aspirations of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.

The subsequent discussions and debates in the Rajya Sabha will further illuminate the nuances of these legislative proposals and their potential impact on the region.

SRINAGAR — In a shocking revelation by the Centre, almost 10,000 women have gone missing from J&K from 2019 to 2021 with officials citing exorbitant use of social media as the main reason behind the missing cases.

In the Parliament, the Government of India revealed that around 10,000 women have gone missing in Jammu and Kashmir in three years from 2019.

In response to a question in Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, as per the news agency KNO, informed the Parliament that 9,765 women have gone missing from their homes in Jammu and Kashmir between 2019 to 2021.

In these three years, there were 1148 cases of missing girls below the age of 18 and 8,617 women aged above 18 have gone missing.

While giving yearly data, the MoS Home said that 355 girls and 2,738 women went missing in the year 2019, followed by 350 girls and 2,701 women in 2020 and 443 girls and 3,178 women in the year 2021.

As per the data available, just around 3300 women had gone missing in J&K from 2016-2018 while the number has tripled in the next three years from 2019-2021. As per the data, 943 women went missing in J&K in the year 2016, 1,044 in 2017 and 1,335 in 2018.

Meanwhile, the Government of India said that they have taken a number of initiatives for the safety of women across the country.

“The Criminal Law (Amendment), Act 2013 was enacted for effective deterrence against sexual offences. Further, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 was enacted to prescribe even more stringent penal provisions including the death penalty for the rape of girls below the age of 12 years. The Act also inter-alia mandates completion of the investigation and filing of charge sheet in rape cases in two months and trials to be completed in two months,” MoS Home said in Rajya Sabha.

“Emergency Response Support System provides a pan-India, single internationally recognized number (112) based system for all emergencies, with the computer-aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has launched a cyber-crime reporting portal on 20th September, 2018 for citizens to report obscene content besides that MHA has launched the 'National Database on Sexual Offenders' (NDSO) on 20th September 2018 to facilitate investigation and tracking of sexual offenders across the country by law enforcement agencies,” he said.

“MHA has launched an online analytic tool 'Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences' for Police on 19th February 2019 to facilitate them to monitor and track time-bound investigation in sexual assault cases in accordance with Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2018, in order to improve investigation. MHA has taken steps to strengthen DNA analysis units in Central and State Forensic Science Laboratories. This includes setting up of State-of-the-Art DNA Analysis Unit in Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh," he said.

He added, "MHA has also sanctioned setting-up and upgrading of DNA Analysis units in State Forensic Science Laboratories after gap analysis and demand assessment and MHA has notified guidelines for collection of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases and the standard composition in a sexual assault evidence collection kit. To facilitate adequate capacity in manpower, training and skill-building programs have been undertaken for Investigation Officers, Prosecution Officers and Medical Officers. Bureau of Police Research & Development has distributed 14,950 Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kits to States/UTs as orientation kits as part of training.”

“MHA has also approved two projects for setting up and strengthening of Women Help Desks in Police Stations and Anti-Human Trafficking Units in all districts of the country and the Ministry of Home Affairs have issued advisories from time to time with a view to helping the States/UTS to deal with crimes against women, which are available at www.mha.gov.in while the Ministry of Women & Child Development has set up 733 One Stop Centres in the country. These centres provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence and in distress, under one roof and provide an integrated range of services including medical aid, legal aid, temporary shelter, police assistance, psycho-social counselling,” MoS said.

Meanwhile, some officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the exorbitant influence of social media leading to an elopement with strangers is the main cause for the rise in missing cases among the female population while few cases are also related to kidnapping and other issues.

They said that most of these women are brought back after cases are being registered and eloping with strangers whom they met on different social media apps is the main reason in most of the cases. “Women having weak family bonds are more prone to it besides that we must have a rethinking on the usage of social media,” they said.

SRINAGAR — The Centre on Wednesday said that 185 persons from outside Jammu and Kashmir have bought land in the Union Territory during the years 2020, 2021 and 2022.

In a written reply to a question, Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai, as per the news agency KNO, informed the Rajya Sabha that in 2020, only one person brought land while 57 persons bought it in 2021 and 127 in 2022.

"Further, as per the information provided by the Union Territory of Ladakh, no land has been bought by persons from outside the UT during the last three years," he said.

He said as per the information provided by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, a total of 1559 Indian companies, including multinational companies, have made investments in the UT.

"In the 2020-21 financial year, 310 entitles have been invested while 175 in 2021-22 and 1074 in 2022-23," he said, adding that as per the information provided by the Union Territory of Ladakh, no Indian companies, including multinational companies, have invested in the UT during the last three years.

SRINAGAR — The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday said that the year 2022 saw the highest number of anti-militancy operations in J&K in which 187 militants were killed while civilian and security forces killings were at an all-time low.

Replying to a query in Rajya Sabha, the MHA said that 111 counter-militancy operations were launched in 2022, which is the highest since 2018 that recorded 100 such operations.

“In 2018, 228 militancy-related incidents were recorded, 153 in 2019, 1126 in 2020, 129 in 2021 and 125 in 2022,” the MHA reply states as per the news agency KNO.

It further states that the year 2018 saw 189 encounters. “In 2019, 102 encounters were reported, 118 in 2020, 100 in 2021 and 117 in 2022,” the reply reads.

It further reads that 39 civilians were killed in 2018, 39 again in 2019, 37 in 2020, 41 in 2021 and 30 in 2022. “91 security forces personnel were killed in action in 2018, 80 in 2019, 62 in 2020, 42 in 2021 and 31 in 2022, (which is the lowest since 2018),” the reply adds.

It states that the year 2018 saw 100 counter-militancy operations while in the year 2019, 74 such operations were launched. “The year 2020 recorded 100 such operations, the year 2021 had 95 and the year 2022 had 111 (highest since 2018),” it reads.

The reply also states that in the year 2018, 17 militants were arrested, 20 in 2019, 21 in 2020, 17 in 2021 and 24 in 2022. “In 2018, the highest number of militants were killed at 257, 157 were killed in 2019, 221 in 2020, 180 in 2021 and 187 in 2022,” the reply reads.

In reply to another query, the MHA stated that no new Village Defence Groups (VDGs) were created while the existing ones are continuing. “At present, sanctioned strength of VDGs is 4985 of which 4153 have been constituted,” the reply reads.

SRINAGAR — More than 1.43 lakh tourists visited J&K in December 2021 and the number of tourists who visited J&K since September 2021 is over 72 lakh, the Tourism Ministry said on Thursday.

While replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of Tourism G Kishan Reddy, as per news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that the winter season has witnessed 100 per cent occupancy of hotels in Srinagar and other tourist destinations.

He said that on June 28, 2021, the government announced a stimulus package to boost diverse sectors of the economy affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. "The package comprises a total of 17 measures in three broad categories, which include economic relief from pandemic with special focus on health and reviving travel and tourism sectors and impetus for growth and employment."

"The scheme will be subject to a maximum loan of Rs 10 lakhs each for Travel & Tourism stakeholders and up to rupees one lakh each for registered tourist guides. A Corpus of Rs 250 crore has been allocated under the scheme for a period of five years. Validity of the said scheme has been extended till 31-03-2023 or till the guarantee of Rs 250 crore is issued under the scheme, whichever is earlier. Since this is a Pan-India scheme, it is also applicable for the UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh," he added.

He said, "Domestic tourism is at its peak in the UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. It is corroborated with the Budget speech of the Finance Minister while presenting the budget of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh for the year 2022-23. As per this, the Tourism sector is also registering an increase in the footfall of tourists."

"Around 1.43 lakh tourists visited Kashmir in December 2021 which is the highest in the last seven years. From September 2021 onwards, around 72.09 lakh tourists including pilgrim tourists visited Jammu & Kashmir which is much higher than the previous year. Winter season has witnessed 100% high-end hotel occupancy in Srinagar and at prominent tourist destinations, particularly Gulmarg and Pahalgam," the minister added.