The Central Government notified the amendments regarding the land laws in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which dismissed the earlier protection given to its permanent residents through the special status. The amendments allow outsiders to purchase the non-agricultural land.
However, it is expected that the government might add some restrictions for the process through some further amendments.
While the decision was widely celebrated by the BJP political leaders and its supporters, regional political leaders of Kashmir expressed concern over the notification. National Conference leader and former Chief Minister of J&K, Omar Abdullah said that the Centre has now put Jammu and Kashmir up for sale and it has ended even the tokenism of domicile.
The 2011 Census shows that the religion-wise percentage of the total population is largely unchanged in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir for almost over half a century. However, the former state is now divided into two Union Territories last year.
The census of 1941, before the independence, shows that the Muslims constituted 72.41% of the total population while the Hindus formed 25.01% of the total population and the erstwhile state’s total population was somewhere around 40 lakhs. After that, the ratio of Muslim population fell gradually.
When India got independence from the Britishers, she conducted her first census but Jammu and Kashmir was not the part of the census. When the Census was conducted 10 years later in 1961, it showed that the Muslims constituted 68.31% of the total population with 24.32 lakh members, while the Hindus made up 28.45% of the total population with 10.13 lakh members.
After half a century, the population percentage religion wise came out almost the same as the 1961 census. The 2011 Census recorded that the Muslim population is 85.67 lakh in the erstwhile state contributing 68.31% of the total population of 1.25 crore while, the Hindu population is at 35.66 lakh contributing to 28.43% of the total.
The Muslims percentage of the total population started to fall after the 1961 census when it contributed 68.31% of the population. It fell to 65.83% in the census of 1971 and further fell to 64.19% a decade later. There were no census conducted in 1991 because of the terrorism. But, in coming two decades of census 2001 and 2011, the Muslim’s share grew to 68.31% while that of the Hindus fell to 28.43%, almost identical to 50 years ago census of 1961.
