J K News Today
A very influential section in Kashmir , within the rest of India, and, of course , in Pakistan are backing a theory that the new domicile policy will alter the demography of Jammu and Kashmir as there would be over 28 lakh migrants from other parts of the country settling down in the newly carved out Union Territory out of the erstwhile state that was dismantled on August 5 last year. The whole thing is unfounded.
Assumptions and presumptions don’t make a substantive theory , though that can help in starting a false narrative , and that is what the purpose of these protagonists of these nightmare spelling theories want to do. It is ill-intentioned because this theory has been generated by all anti-India elements in Kashmir, who, unfortunately , have been supported by the erstwhile mainstream parties . Pakistan has always used the change of the demography theory much before the J&K was made a UT , or when it was a full-fledged state with all the special rights and privileges plus a sense of exclusiveness and entitlement under Article 35 A and Article 370.
According to proponents of the change in the demographic theory , there are 28.09 lakh migrants out of the total population of 1.23 crore population of the UT of J&K. They have obviously seemed to have taken out the population of Ladakh , now a separate UT, out of it. As per 2011 census , the population of Ladakh was 2,90,492.
What is intriguing is that the whole picture of the numbers of the migrants has been distorted to cause alarm among the people in J&K, for the number that they have stated roughly comes to 25 per cent of the total population . Census 2011
LET FACTS SPEAK
There are two types of migrants recorded in the 2011 census . One is migration by birthplace , and the other is migration by last place of residence. In simple words ,when a person is enumerated in Census at a place different from his/her place of birth , he/she would be considered migrant by place of birth . A person would be considered a migrant by place of last residence, if he/she had last resided at a place other than his/her place of enumeration
As per Census 2011 , migrants having last place of residence other than the state of J&K were 1,55,187. Their break up is like this,- the number of the migrants having duration of their sty for less than 4 years is 56,383, the medium term (5-9 years is ) 16,526, those of long term ( more than 10 years) 51,891 ( duration not stated ) 30,387.
This is the real picture . And , by any stretch of imagination it cannot change the demography, because 56,383 of short term joined by medium term migrants 16, 526, and unclassified 30,387 do not qualify, as per the domicile policy rule to apply for domicile certificate. And their total number is 1,03, 296 . And even among the long-term who have stayed for longer than 10 years, all cannot qualify for the domicile certificate as the minimum requirement is at least 15 years stay in J&K
For argument sake even if all of them( are entitled to the domicile certificate , their number stands at 51,891. How can this number effect any adverse change in the demography of 1.23 crore?
The whole thesis collapses under the weight of the wrong interpretation of the Census 11. There are many such narratives in circulation ringing alarm bells unnecessarily to confuse and mislead the people in a bid to sow the seeds of resentment.
The wrong narrative wants to scare the native about their land and jobs. That is the underlined intention or for that matter the mischief that they want to play. But facts have spoken, and it would be better that all the wrong interpretations are corrected once and all.