Context:

• Issuance of domicile certificates in Jammu and Kashmir.

Background:

• The erstwhile State of J&K had gained special powers to define its ‘permanent residents’ and restrict land, educational and employment rights only to them.

• Subsequent to changes to Articles 370 and 35A in August 2019, in March 2020, the concept of “permanent resident of the State” was discontinued in J&K.

• As per the new domicile rules, those persons and their children who have resided for 15 years in J&K, or have studied for seven years and appeared in the Class X or XII exam in an educational institution in the UT, are eligible for grant of domicile. Significance of the domicile rules: Setting right

deprivations:

• New domicile rules for Jammu and Kashmir have brought succour and hope for a segment of its population that had to contend with fragmented citizenship rights.

* Around two to three lakh people including refugees from Pakistan, sanitary workers resettled from other parts of India were not classified as permanent residents, leading to a denial of opportunities to them in education, employment and politics leading to gross injustice to this section of the society.

• It will help mitigate the historical deprivation of this segment of the population. Economic

development:

• Movement and settlement of people across political and natural borders have been a constant feature of progress.

• Movement into the region will be largely driven by economic reasons. Economic growth would be aided by the flow of resources and people into the relatively underdeveloped region.

Integration with India:

• The domicile rules which will help increase the interaction between the region and the rest of India will provide for opportunities for better understanding. This will help the region integrate into the Indian Union not only politically but also psychologically. This would also help India and the region address the internal security issue of terrorism which seems to have deprived a whole generation of the region of its share of peace and development.

Concerns:

• There are concerns that the changes in domicile rules will lead to a huge influx into the region leading to a change in the demographic character of the region. • There are concerns that there could be dispossession of land and a shrinking of economic opportunities for local people.

Conclusion:

• There is a need to guard against politics hampering the prospects of growth and development in Jammu and Kashmir. There is a need to guard against the politics based on the principle of nativism while at the same time taking necessary measures to protect the region’s genuine interests.