RS nod to bifurcate J&K into UTs, resolution to axe Art 370

In a big triumph for the government, the Rajya Sabha on Monday passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019 and adopted the resolution to abrogate the Constitution's Article 370.

The bill would now be tabled in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing. Once it gets the Parliamentary approval and becomes an Act, the state would be bifurcated into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature, and Ladakh Union Territory without a legislature.

The Rajya Sabha also passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 having provisions of 10 per cent reservation for Economically Weaker Sections of upper caste in the state.

Replying to the debate on Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill, 2019 in the Rajya Sabha, Home Minister Amit Shah said that it was time for Article 370 to go as the constitutional provision was "the root of all the evils".

He said that Article 370 never allowed the democracy to percolate down, and noted that over 41,000 people of the state were killed in the last two decades.-IANS