Article 370

Article 370
Article 370 of the Indian Constitution provides special autonomous status to the state Jammu and Kashmir. It provides a temporary provision and under part XXI of the Indian constitution, which relates to Temporary, Transitional and Special provisions, the state of Jammu and Kashmir was accorded special status under Article 370. It meant that all the provisions that are applicable to other states of India will not be applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir and it needs to be passed in the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly to pass any new law in the state. Till 1965, Jammu and Kashmir had Sadr-e-Riyasat for governor and the state had its own prime minister in place of the chief minister. While drafting the law in the constitution, the states constituent assembly was empowered to recommend the articles of the Indian constitution that could be applied on the state. The Indian government has the control only over the defense, diplomacy and finance in the state. The state also has its own constitution and its own flag. The root of the article goes back during the Indian independence of 1947. When the British were leaving India, they gave the rights to the princely states to choose whether they want to join any country or to remain independent. Most of these princely states joined India however; the Maharaja of Kashmir wanted to stay alone and didnt want to join either India or Pakistan. When Pakistan forcefully tried to take the control of Kashmir, there was no option left with the king and he then joined India in October 1947. After joining India, the king appointed Sheikh Abdulla as the prime minister of the state. When it came to drafting the Indian constitution, Prime Minister of India Jawahar Lal Nehru brought in N Gopalswami Ayyangar, a former Diwan to the Maharaja of Kashmir to draw the relevant clauses and articles for the state. It is said that Jawahar Lal Nehru, being a Kashmiri Pandit himself was biased towards Kashmir and they gave Sheikh Abdullah almost everything he wanted in the article. Article 370 gave the power to the state similar to the power that the centre has. However, this was a temporary provision and it was applicable only till the formation of the states constitution. But later the Article became a permanent feature of the Indian constitution as confirmed by the rulings of the Supreme Court. Article 370 gives special powers to the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the article states that the provisions of Article 238, which was omitted from the Indian Constitution in 1956 during the reorganization of the Indian states will not be applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It also states the Indian Parliament cannot increase or decrease the borders of the state. One of the controversies of the article is that the citizens from the rest of India cannot migrate or acquire land in the state and only the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir will have the right to migrate or acquire land in the state. People belonging to other states of the country cannot become the permanent residents of the state. The article also ruled that Kashmiri women marrying person who doesnt belong to Jammu and Kashmir will lose their right to be called as the permanent resident. However in 2002, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court ruled that the daughters will continue to have the right of being the permanent resident of the state despite marrying the person belonging to other state. The Centre also has no power in declaring a financial emergency in the state as per the Article 360 and it can declare emergency only in the case of war or external aggression. Emergency cannot be declared on the grounds of internal disturbance or any danger. The emergency can be declared in the state only after the request of the state government. Article 370 was in controversies from the period of drafting this law. The principal drafter of the constitution Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar refused to draft the Article 370 and then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru directed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah to consult Amedkar for drafting the article. The article was eventually drafted by Gopalswami Ayyangar. During the 2014 general elections, the manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party pledged for integrating the state of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India and abolishing the article. However, in October 2015, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir ruled that the Article 370 cannot be abrogated or replaced or abolished.
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