AUGUST19, 2019 INDIATODAY^19the near-absence of
central public sector
enterprises (CPSEs)
in the state. “The rank
correlation between
CPSE investment and
level of development
of J&K is 0.87. Private
investments have pig-
gybacked on public in-
vestment. Of the 339
CPSEs in India, with
investments worth Rs
23 lakh crore and 1.08 million employ-
ees, only three are in J&K,” he says. The
three CPSEs in the state together have
an investment of Rs 165 crore and em-
ploy just 21 people, he adds.
While a slew of business leaders
tweeted their support for the Cen-
tre’s move, they are likely to hold back
big-ticket investments until there is a
definite sense of political stability in
Kashmir. While the applicability of
the Right to Informa-
tion (RTI) and reserva-
tions is no incentive for
businesses, the fact that
Supreme Court rulings
will now be applicable
to Kashmir could be
a source of comfort in
terms of enforcement of
contracts. There is talk
of holding a business
summit in October.
However, empirical
evidence suggests very little correla-
tion between what’s announced and
what finally gets implemented on the
ground—so the summit is likely to have
little bearing on grassroots economics.
What will make a fundamental
difference is the Union government
coming out with a big-ticket economic
package. The last time the central gov-
ernment announced a big package for
Kashmir was under PM A.B. Vajpayee,giving the Valley’s economy a fillip. It
is crucial for the Modi government to
announce major projects for the region,
such as an IIT, IIM and a power plant,
as they can enthuse the private sector.
And despite the suspension of Art-
icle 370, security officials feel it will be
extremely difficult to resettle Kashmiri
Pandit refugees immediately in the Val-
ley, given the hostility and terrorists on
the loose. They will, at best, be able to
live in fenced ghettoes.
Beyond these technical changes,
what may alter J&K’s politics is the
government’s decision to set up a com-
mission to undertake the delimitation
exercise in J&K. Delimitation is the
process of fixing limits or boundaries
of constituencies based on changes in
demography. In 2002, the J&K as-
sembly passed a law putting a freeze
on fresh delimitation of seats till 2026.
Many believe the delimitation exercise
will increase the number of constitu-
encies in the thickly populated and
Hindu-dominated Jammu region,
which will benefit the BJP. “The gov-
ernment of India’s intention is clear
and sinister. It wants to change the de-
mography of the only Muslim-majority
state in India, disempower Muslims to
the extent that they become second-
class citizens in their own state,” says
ex-chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.THE LEGAL
TANGLE
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu
Singhvi called the dilution of Article
370 “a legally flawed but politically
astute move”. What the Modi-led BJP
government has done is to use a ‘kill
switch’ in Article 370 to render it null
and void. So on August 5, when home
minister Shah rose in the Rajya Sabha
to inflict the most decisive blow to the
autonomy of J&K, he did not move any
bill to amend the Constitution. Inst-
ead, he achieved what he had set out
to through a presidential order—the
Constitution (Application to Jammu
and Kashmir) Order, 2019, which sup-
ersedes the Constitution (ApplicationBusiness houses
are likely to hold
back big-ticket
investments
until there is a
definite sense of
political stability
in KashmirPANKAJ NANGIA/MAIL TODAY
The Big Story / J&K