Indian authorities are using the Israeli model of land grabbing In Indian occupied Kashmir. In a similar fashion, Indian authorities have reserved more than 9000 Canals of land under the name of 37 economic zones.
The RTI Movement Chairman, Dr. Raja Muzaffar Butt said that as per the 10th Agriculture Census of 2015- 2016, the agricultural landholding in Jammu and Kashmir was a mere 0.59 hectares. “This was a bit more i.e. 0.62 hectares in 2011,” he said and asked the authorities to take into account the unique natural and topographical features of the occupied territory.
Jammu and Kashmir already has Industrial areas
“We have dozens of industrial estates in J&K without any infrastructure and acquiring huge land to create more such estates is completely an unwise decision” Dr. Raja Muzaffar further said.
RTI is a local civil society movement that consists of individuals nearly from varying backgrounds. According to the statement released by RTI, this land accusation is dangerous to the local agriculture sector. That is the main component of the local economy. The agriculture sector is already facing many problems due to the current discriminatory policies of the Indian government.
New domicile law
In continuing of changing Indian policies, the state has introduced new domicile law in Indian occupied State of Jammu and Kashmir. This new law has sparked a new wave of anger in native Kashmiri people. They are seeing this law as a continuation of Indian state acts to change the demography of the area.
The new rules allow such Indian citizens who have lived in Jammu and Kashmir for 15 years to claim a domicile certificate. So that they can attain residency benefits. Previously, no one outside of the Jammu and Kashmir was able to buy land here. The period for a student who has studied here is 7 years and children of the central government officials are 10 years. This law has been introduced by central govt without taking politicians of the valley into confidence.
Abrogation of article 370
Jammu and Kashmir have a special status in the Indian constitution. This special status was guarded by article 370. In August 2019 BJP led government abrogated this article. They also changed the status of Jammu and Kashmir to a union territory along with Ladakh. After this abrogation protests erupted in the valley and Indian security forces enforced curfew there. These security arrangements are still there along with the suspension of high-speed mobile internet. In march 2020 BJP government went further and introduced laws that changed citizenship of Jammu and Kashmir.
