Delimitation process underway in J&K, polls to be conducted soon: PM Modi

A little over a year after the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into union territories and the reading down of Article 370 and Article 35A, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday referred to it as a year of “a new development journey in Jammu and Kashmir.”

“...this is a year of rights for women, it is also a year of dignified life of refugees in Jammu and Kashmir,” the PM said in his Independence Day speech on Saturday.

In August 2019, Parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill that paved the way for the bifurcation of the state into two union territories; read down Article 370 that gave the state special powers and nullified Article 35A that defined citizenship rights that were essential for jobs and education. Article 35A also barred women married to non-state subject holders from passing on their inheritance to their children and was considered as discriminatory.