Bill to be introduced in Parl’s winter session
*ST status, KP, PoJK legislations to also come up
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 29: The Central Government is likely to introduce a bill in upcoming winter session of the Parliament, beginning December 4, granting 33 percent reservation to women in Legislative Assemblies of Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry.
Sources told the Excelsior that 33 percent seats will be reserved in 90-seat Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for women.
The winter session is scheduled to last till December 22.
The bill means 29 or 30 seats in the UT Assembly will be reserved for women from 2029 when provisions of the legislation will come into effect.
Within 33 percent reservation to women, there will be reservation to SC and ST women. Already, seven seats have been reserved for SCs and nine for STs in the J&K Assembly.
With 33 percent reservation for women, nearly 50 percent seats in the UT Assembly will be reserved.
When the provisions of women reservation are made applicable to the Lok Sabha, one or two out of five LS seats in Jammu and Kashmir will also be reserved for the women, the sources said.
The bill for providing reservation to women in Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry Assemblies is likely to be moved by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Besides, as per the sources, four bills pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir which were introduced in Lok Sabha during Monsoon session of the Parliament in July but were not taken up for pass motions, are likely to be taken up for the Parliament nod in the winter session.
One of the bills pertained to nomination of two Kashmiri migrants including one woman and a Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) refugee in Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir by the Lieutenant Governor while the other is about grant of Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to Pahari Ethnic Tribe, Paddari Tribe, Gadda Brahmans and Kolis.
Third bill proposed to change nomenclature of Other Social Castes (OSCs) to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for grant of reservation while fourth bill will include Valmikis in the list of Scheduled Castes.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 provides for nomination of not more than two members, one of whom shall be a woman, from the community of Kashmiri migrants, and one member from displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir, to the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Delimitation Commission, while undertaking the delimitation process of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, had received many representations from the Kashmiri migrants as well as from the displaced persons from Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir regarding reservation of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to preserve their political rights and identity.
“It is proposed to amend Section 2 of the Reservation Act by the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 so as to change the nomenclature of ‘weak and under privileged classes (Social Castes)’ occurring in Sub-clause (iii) of clause (o), to ‘Other Backward Classes’ and to make consequential amendment in Clause (q), of Section 2 of the said act,” the statement on the OBC bill stated.
The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order Bill 2023 seeks to include the Valmiki community as a synonym of Chura, Bhangi, Valmiki and Mehtar in the list of Scheduled Castes of Jammu and Kashmir.
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