Jammu and Kashmir statehood could be restored? What Nirmala Sitharaman said

Three years after Article 370 of the Constitution – which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir – was scrapped, and J&K was divided into two union territories, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday spoke about the J&K statehood in her remarks on Centre-state relations.

Soon after assuming charge, Sitharaman said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accepted the recommendation of 14th Finance Commission in 2014-2015. “The 14th Finance Commission submitted a report in 2014, and said what was still then being given – which is 32 per cent of all tax collected – to states, was to be changed to 42 per cent… all at one go,” she said during her address on “Cooperative Federalism” in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram. “This effectively meant that the Centre would have lesser amount in its hand. Prime Minister Modi – without a second thought about it – fully accepted the Finance Commission recommendation.”

“That is why today states get 42 per cent of the amount… now reduced by 41 per cent because Jammu and Kashmir is no longer a state. It will soon become may be sometime…,” the Union Minister further added.

Post the revocation of Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir is soon expecting to go for assembly polls for the first time. Meanwhile, the opposition parties are up in arms over the issue of inclusion of non-locals in the voters’ list.

Former chief minister and chairman of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an alliance of several opposition parties, Dr Farooq Abdullah has been holding meetings in this regard.