Come October 31, the Jammu and Kashmir division of the Union home ministry in North Block will wear a new look as it would no longer be handling Jammu and Kashmir as a special state carrying the burden of Article 370. It will undergo changes in keeping with the needs of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh post bifurcation.
Kashmir has been the focus of successive home ministers, and when Home Minister Amit Shah announced the abrogation of Article 370 that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a new chapter was being written not only in the history of Jammu and Kashmir but also in the corridors of North Block which houses one of the most sensitive divisions—the Jammu and Kashmir division.
What started off as a small Kashmir desk by the Central government for handling all Constitutional matters, including Article 370 of the Constitution, and general policy matters concerning Jammu and Kashmir and militancy in the state, had been elevated to a 'division' of the Union home ministry in North Block in the 1990s. This meant that all matters related to Jammu and Kashmir, being handled by an additional secretary level officer till then, had to be directly handled by the Union home secretary.
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The change was small but symbolic. During that decade, militancy had grown in Kashmir and the special status had to be kept intact. In the coming years, the Jammu and Kashmir division grew further both in terms of its importance and workload as new schemes and policies kept the bureaucrats on their toes. From surrender policies for militants, developmental schemes and projects, compensation for victims of terrorism, to relief and rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants, the Jammu and Kashmir division was also instrumental in coordinating with other stakeholders like ministry of external affairs, defence ministry and intelligence agencies on key matters of security and cross border terrorism.
After Jammu and Kashmir will be bifurcated into twin Union territories of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh on October 31, change is on the cards once again in the working of the Jammu and Kashmir division. Union home secretary A.K. Bhalla will have to decide whether Jammu and Kashmir needs to be treated as a separate division handling Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh or tweak the administrative handling of the division to meet the new requirements.
The creation of two new Union territories would mean overlapping administrative work with the UT division of the MHA that handles all matters related to UTs in the country. For the rest of the states, it is the centre-state division of the home ministry that handles items on concurrent list of the Constitution.
Another key issue is the allocation of cadre for the Indian police service officers since the MHA is the cadre controlling authority for the Indian police service. A big challenge before the home ministry is the separation of cadre once the state splits to form two UTs. With the formal bifurcation of the state and granting of UT status, the Jammu and Kashmir cadre for IPS officers would cease to exist and the officers will have to be reallocated, shifting them to AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territory) cadre for IPS officers who are posted to Union territories by the MHA.
For the time being, the J&K division remains the most heavily burdened division, coordinating the creation of new assets, bifurcation of existing assets, setting up new schemes and reviewing old schemes and packages in the run up to the state's bifurcation. Which administrative division J&K and Ladakh will fall into or if it continue to remain independent in their handling by the MHA is a question the ministry will have to address in the coming days.
Once the dust settles down, sources said the MHA may be keen to send out a message by renaming the UT division as UT1 Jammu and Kashmir and UT2 including Ladakh, and appointing two joint secretaries to handle them. The signalling would be that J&K is no longer a state with a special status and does not require special handling. But how soon the Centre is able to display that it does not treat J&K as special, even in its administrative handling, remains to be seen.
