Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023:
The Lok Sabha has passed two significant bills related to Jammu and Kashmir, aimed at providing rights to those who faced injustice and were deprived of their rights in the Union Territory.
Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023:
- Aims to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004.
- Provides reservation in jobs and admission in professional institutions to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and other socially and educationally backward classes.
- The amendment suggests a change in the nomenclature of a section of people previously described as “weak and underprivileged classes (social castes)” to “other backward classes.”
Introduces changes to Section 2 of the 2004 Act.
Amendment:
- Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 Seeks to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
- Provides representation in the Legislative Assembly to Kashmiri migrants and displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
- Proposes the nomination of two members from the Kashmiri migrant community and one person representing displaced persons from PoK to the Legislative Assembly.
Increase in Assembly Seats: - Proposes an increase in the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly from 83 to 90.
- Introduces provisions to reserve seats for members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- Inserts new sections 15A and 15B in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, allowing the Lieutenant Governor to nominate members from the community of “Kashmiri Migrants” and “Displaced Persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir” to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
- Two seats reserved for the Kashmiri Migrant community.
- One seat in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly reserved for people displaced from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
- Nine seats reserved for SC/ST communities for the first time.
