Jammu & Kashmir: Centre commences outreach programme; 70 Ministers to visit 20 districts

70 Union Ministers will visit 20 districts of the Union Territory in the third phase of the Centre's Jammu and Kashmir outreach programme after the abrogation of Article 370, sources told Republic TV. To begin with, Union MoS Power Krishan Pal Gurjar arrived in Jammu on Monday. Sources also revealed that some of the Cabinet Ministers who are scheduled to visit J&K include Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari. After their visit to the Union Territory, the Union Ministers will submit a report to the Prime Minister's Office.

The first phase of the outreach campaign saw 36 Union Ministers visiting J&K in January 2020. However, this initiative was temporarily put on hold due to the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. After the second novel coronavirus wave abated, 70 Union Ministers visited the Union Territory from September-October 2021 in the second phase of the outreach programme. Perceived as a confidence-building measure by the Centre, this initiative is aimed at interacting with the people and spreading awareness about the welfare schemes. 

Article 370 abrogation & delimitation process

A Presidential notification combined with requisite legislation passed by both the House of Parliament in August 2019 led to Article 370 becoming virtually redundant. This implied that the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was scrapped. Furthermore, the region was bifurcated into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. Thereafter, restrictions on the movement of people and communication were imposed in the state, which were gradually lifted over the months.

After leaders such as former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were released post months of detention, 6 political parties joined hands to form the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration in August 2020. The principal aim of this alliance is to strive for the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A and statehood. Subsequently, PAGD emerged as the single-largest party in the first-ever District Development Council polls in J&K by bagging 110 seats. 

Meanwhile, the two-year-long delimitation process in J&K came to an end in May which has given rise to the possibility of Assembly elections being held this year. In accordance with the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the strength of the J&K Assembly increased from 83 to 90, with Jammu getting six new seats while Kashmir, which has traditionally garnered the lion's share of seats, bagged only one extra seat. Thus, Jammu and Kashmir will have 43 and 47 seats respectively. On the other hand, 9 and 7 seats have been reserved for STs and SCs respectively.