Very soon, domicile law for J&K: Jitendra Singh

‘Jobs will be provided more than what was promised’

JAMMU: In a bid to address the concerns of the local populace after the revoking of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status last year, Union minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday assured the people of the Union Territory that the domicile law is coming “very soon” which would be followed by the Land Act.

He also announced that more than the promised jobs will be provided to the youths after the notification of the rules is worked out.

“The domicile act is coming very soon, which will be immediately followed by the Land Act,” the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office said. Many parties have been demanding enactment of a domicile law for Jammu and Kashmir to protect the interests of landowners and the unemployed youths after the erstwhile state lost its special status following nullification of Article 370 by the Centre.

Singh was addressing a function after signing of a major scientific collaboration agreement between Csir-indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu, and Indusscan, a Canadian pharmaceutical company, here.

Describing the signing of the MOU as a “historic moment”, the minister said Jammu and Kashmir’s journey to become a part of India’s five trillion global economy has started from the four walls of IIIM.

“... Prime Minister Narendra Modi is saying again and again that we would have the same kind of focus on Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as we did for North-east which saw major transformation over the last five years. Those who have doubts about it would see all this happening in a short while of time,” he said.

The minister said this is possible because the “earlier embargoes have been removed” and the Union Territory is directly reporting to the Centre.

“Many of the politicians have become unemployed... heard yesterday one of them raising the issue of jobs to the local youth. I want to tell that more than the promised jobs will be advertised but as per the rules and in an impartial manner. We are waiting for a notification of the rules to come out,” he said.

Alleging brazen disregard for the concerns of the educated unemployed and underemployed youth by the incumbent government, National Panthers Party Chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh had said not a single post, out of the promised 50,000 jobs, had been advertised for filling up in the new UT after the abrogation of Article 370 provisions.