 On 26th October 2020, the federal government repealed 11 land laws, arguing them as regressive and outdated, and needed to be replaced with a set of modern, progressive and people-friendly provisions. I think it is one of the most regressive decisions taken by this bureaucratic Jammu and Krishnan government. I have written to the Home Minister there that he is not competent. I have written to all members of parliament that what you have done, you cannot allow Home Minister to bring any law which indicates emergency in the country. Therefore, the law made by Home Minister is totally wrong, unconstitutional, unparliamentary, and cannot be accepted by any tenants of law. The introduction of new land laws in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has sparked fears of dispossession among the locals. They see these changes as another assault on the region's identity and economic sovereignty. The land-to-tiller reform introduced by the National Conference was a major breakthrough for the people in the region. During the Dogra regime, however, the land was entirely possessed by the ground and was retained under strict laws and policing to avoid encroachment or illegal possession. Historians claim that the Dogra laws were solely aimed at dispossession of Kashmiri people. Land-to-tiller that was brought in by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah was a revolutionary act. You must be aware how it actually brought people out of misery, out of poverty and helped them to sustain themselves, to stand on their own feet. The way it was distributed across, without consideration of religion, without consideration of caste, without consideration of a language, how it was distributed equally among those who used to till that land. It's the biggest ever reform that was done in the subcontinent till date. The way it was implemented, the effects can be seen in coming decades. How many former suicides have we witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir? None. It was made to other states of India. So it was bizarre. The statement made by the bureaucrat who was trying to give some sort of a clarification on the laws. It was bizarre when he said that these laws were archaic and these laws were redundant. On the land reform, by 1961, about 8 lakh acres of land was transferred to tillers. More over 70,900 landless peasants, including mostly Muslim in the valley and 25,000 lower caste Hindus in Jammu region, became peasant proprietors. The results were illustrious. After a century of subjugation and extreme poverty, life in rural Kashmir became healthier. The new land laws, many in Kashmir believe, have been brought to reverse that effect. After the revolution of Article 370, after it was repealed, the new Delhi passed a lot of laws and repealed some of them. Recently, the 5th Order of JNK Reorganization Act, the 5th Order of 2019, which was recently passed on 26th October, repealed the land laws of Kashmir. They also amended some of the land laws and repealed some of the land laws. The biggest law that was repealed was the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act. It was a land system that was passed against the Jagirdari system in 1950. It was a big issue in the world, especially in South Asia, that Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah passed such a big law. But unfortunately, he also repealed those laws. So, BJP has passed the law to steal the land from Jammu Kashmir. People from Jammu's PDP怎麼 cleared out, and they protested. They were going to protest here today with our PDP. They were arrested, picked up from the house at night and all the people in the office were sealed and then our people were locked up. After that I tried to meet them in the police station but I was stopped there. The purpose of saying this is that we can't talk about journalists in Jammu and Kashmir we can't talk about civil society we can't talk about politicians Jammu and Kashmir have been transferred to a jail. Today the people of Ladakh and Jammu province are also understanding that there is a declaration that Jammu-Kashmir has to pay 370 rupees What is the reason for that? If we don't fight together then these people want to steal everything from Jammu-Kashmir they want to take the resources from here Land Revenue Act There has been an amendment in Jammu-Kashmir Land Revenue Act which has not been repealed There have been such things that people get to cry Now our protected tenants were there, they are called occupants They are the culprits They have been arrested This is one thing Another important thing is that the development act of 1970 In 1970, Jammu-Kashmir made the first development act In that development act where development will be done how to do construction what to do They have made an amendment in that development act They have not repealed it In that development act they have put a provision that they have put that some areas will be given a strategic decision So what will happen Army commanders have given the powers of the core commander who is the officer of that level or someone above that They have given the power that they will declare a strategic area and the population there will be removed It can be the case that there are so many villages around the airport They will be removed It is not that they will not give permission to remove it but the problem is that where will they go because our already land holding is very low Our land holding here is the lowest in India If we compare the other states the land holding of India The average land holding in India is about 1.25 hectares 1.23 to 25 hectares That means if we go according to the canal about 28 channels which are average to the families And our average land holding which is here It is only 0.51 hectares Officially That means 8-9 channels Officially 9-10 channels But unofficially that is only 4 channels Now in the state where land holding is only 4 channels In that state does the government have to save the land or take the land They are transferring our land They are transferring so much that you cannot even imagine At this time here in Jumu Kashmir The total land holding of the industrial estates is about 250 acres One acre would be 8 channels We have 250 acres of the industrial estates Now they have transferred the land to 3,000 acres in the channel which we talk about in Kashmir 24,000 channels 24,000 channels they have transferred industrial estates They don't know which industries They don't know Do they want to make a steel plant here? Do they want to burn the coal here? Then pollution will happen here Already Kashmir is dying of pollution Water pollution is done here according to the waste management This is an environmentally fragile place The environment here has to be saved The industries here don't want to be put here They want to put green industries They want to do green development They want to develop horticulture They want to develop agribusiness industries They want to develop dairy farming They want to develop sheep farming They don't know from where they are bringing industrial estates They want to put factories We will go If we have 4 channels of land which we are taking we won't have land Then we will go And whatever decisions are made in an arbitrary way There is no consultation There is no assembly There is no officer sitting there in the ministry or in any other ministry I go from there I wake up from my sleep The new law passes The timing of bringing these laws is suspect There is an election going on in Bihar And we know what kind of machinery that BJP employs This is They are very emotive issues And they know people fall to such kind of emotive issues Land has been made of such a monster about whether anyone can have a piece of land in JNK across the country And they are playing up to the galleries The state authorities however assured that these amendments will aid economic growth and create jobs 90% of the land in the region has been opened for sale to non-Kashmiris Earlier referred to as non-state subjects Fears of demographic change exist among people in both Kashmir Even as the former is a nearly Hindu-dominated region The Togras take pride in their ethnic identity which they fear is at risk The political parties in the region are faced with another challenge As the UT administration has announced dates for holding an 8-phase election to 20 district development councils in the Union territory from November 28 This is the fast major electoral campaign for the Indian foreign and Indian world of Kashmir Since the abrogation of article 370 on August 5 last year