Jammu and Kashmir Domicile Law

The abrogation of J-K’s special status last August meant that the category of permanent residents or state subjects in J-K, and the rights associated with it, was discarded. The legal shields that prevented Indian citizens who weren’t permanent residents of J-K from owning land and immovable property, contesting and voting in state and panchayat elections, and securing government jobs were removed. This was the realisation of the ruling party’s long-held designs for J-K. 

So, why did the Narendra Modi government, eight months later, create a new category of J-K residents to carry on with its post abrogation plans in J-K?

The reasons are manifold. In fact, the order which was subsequently amended to reserve all jobs for J-K domiciles is not a roll back, it’s a big step forward towards complete assimilation of J-K.

As the first implications of the abrogation of J-K’s special status started to appear, people in Jammu’s Hindu-dominated districts who had overwhelmingly supported the move across party lines demanded a mechanism primarily to secure government jobs for local residents. The new political outfit, Apni party, formed by a group of former ministers, legislators and activists from various parties with New Delhi’s blessings, too had been demanding an arrangement to reserve government jobs and land rights for the original inhabitants, or state subjects as they are called. This group, bound by their mutual acceptance of the abrogation of the special status, is being projected as the replacement for the pre-August 5, 2019 pro-India political structure, especially in Kashmir and the Muslim-majority Peerpanchal and Chenab Valley regions of Jammu. 

The concern about jobs stemmed primarily from the fact that J-K’s Hindu population, which is around 28 percent, has historically had the larger portion of the pie in the local government structure (when compared with the percentage of their population). They were concerned that once competition for government jobs was opened to all Indians, they would lose out. The ruling dispensation could not ignore this constituency, which is its only support base in the erstwhile state. The new political party in Kashmir too needed this concession to stay relevant. It was also an easy demand to meet. 

The opening of government jobs in J-K to non-state subjects is neither a priority for New Delhi nor integral to its goals behind the August 5, 2019 decision. While this  job reservation ploy may benefit, to a limited extent, the state subjects, its scope is temporary and will lose its meaning on its own once this new domicile registry swells with new entrants and the post August 5 order is fully established. The introduction of a separate domicile category for J-K residents, however, is essential to driving forward the agenda that led to the August 5 decision. 

There has been apprehension that large numbers of Indian Muslims, faced with communal polarisation across the country, might want to migrate to Muslim-majority J-K for security. In fact, as the challenge to the now-abrogated Article 35A (Permanent Resident or State Subject law) was being heard in the Supreme Court and its implications on the ground were being assessed, a former high court judge had told a visiting team from Delhi that once the bar on the purchase of land and immovable property, participation in assembly and local elections, and entry into J-K government jobs on non-state subjects was lifted, large numbers of Indian Muslims, feeling insecure in their native places, could migrate to J-K.  Sources say that an elaborate survey of non-state subject migrant workers, particularly in the valley, that was subsequently done too had revealed that a majority of them were Muslim. This possible concentration of Indian Muslims in J-K would substantially undo the ruling party’s aim behind the abrogation of the special status. The introduction of the new domicile category  may be designed to help contain this “unwanted” influx. 

While the door of entry into J-K was kicked open on August 5, 2019, the creation of a domicile category means there’s now a doorman to regulate the flow as per the wishes and tastes of the state. 

Unlike the state subject law, which granted the authority to verify permanent residentship on the deputy commissioner, who heads the district administration, and thus ensured multiple levels of checks, the process to issue the domicile certificate has little checks and balances and the power to grant it is given to a junior bureaucrat (tehsildar).