Article 370 scrapped: A historic blunder corrected and how it will help women of Kashmir

New Delhi, Aug 05: The Centre took a historic decision to scrap Article 370 today. If one goes through the clauses in the Article, it is clear that it kept Jammu and Kashmir away from the rest of India.

With Article 370 gone, Article 35A too goes automatically. Article 35A has forced Dalits in Jammu into a pathetic life. Unable to get a PRC they are devoid of jobs & education. But despite being victims of the Article they have never gone against the State.

Article 35A has rendered lives of Dalits settled in Jammu hopeless. They are trapped into a vicious cycle of refugee life without a PRC, which they would never get because of 35A. Without PRC they are ineligible for any job and scavenging is the only option left with them to make their both ends meet.

The trouble with Article 35A:

• Because of Article 35-A children of those refugees who migrated to Jammu from west Pakistan have no rights, not even voting rights in spite of their parents having served in armed forces.
• Article 35-A and various other provisions of the constitution of J&K have deprived the marginalized population of the state of their basic constitutional voting right.
• The existing constitutional provisions in J&K have long treated the refugees from the then West Pakistan as outsiders and these people have been deprived of their rightful legal rights including rightful inheritance to land. Further their deep connect with India debunks the myth that lack of development leads to alienation.
• Article 35-A has denied the women of J&K of their right to property on marrying outsiders as also putting limitations on the constitutional and educational rights of their children. Ironically, such exclusionary provisions do not apply to the men marrying outsiders.
• Article 35-A allows section 6 of the J&K constitution to provide for discriminatory clauses i.e. rights of PRC vs non-PRC holders, rights of male vs female on marrying non-PRC.