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Kharge slams PM, says failed to prevent Pahalgam terror attack

Kharge slams PM, says failed to prevent Pahalgam terror attack

HOSAPETE: Going on the offensive against the Centre from his home base, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge has alleged a major security lapse behind the recent Pahalgam terror attack.
Speaking at the 'Samarpane Sankalpa' rally held on Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka, Kharge claimed that 26 innocent lives could have been saved if the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union Government had ensured proper security through local police, the Border Security Force, or the Army.
Kharge reiterated his earlier statement that Prime Minister Modi had cancelled his planned visit to Jammu and Kashmir on April 17, after receiving intelligence inputs. He questioned why similar warnings were not communicated to tourists, which, he said, could have prevented the tragic loss of life.
The Congress president also played down the recent skirmishes between India and Pakistan by calling it 'chut-put'. Kharge said Pakistan is a weak country and has no strength of its own. 'Pakistan used China-made arms and ammunition to attack India, but failed miserably. Its efforts to disturb the unity of the country also did not succeed,' he said.

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Siddaramaiah deflects Bengaluru stampede blame, says 'no connection to stadium'
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Siddaramaiah deflects Bengaluru stampede blame, says 'no connection to stadium'

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‘Core issues remain': Why Ladakh's leaders are dissatisfied with Centre's new domicile rules
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‘Core issues remain': Why Ladakh's leaders are dissatisfied with Centre's new domicile rules

After multiple rounds of talks with leaders from Ladakh, the Centre has announced a new domicile and job reservation policy for the Union territory. The anxiety over natives losing control over land, resources and employment opportunities had driven sustained protests in Ladakh over the last five years. By reserving most government jobs for local residents and elaborate restrictions on who can be a domicile of Ladakh, the Narendra Modi government has sought to address the demands from the cold desert region. However, the Ladakhi leadership has called it only a 'first step' and a 'breakthrough' in reaching a resolution. 'Our two main issues pertaining to statehood for Ladakh and Sixth Schedule status are still pending,' said Chering Dorjay, a senior Ladakhi leader and chairman of Leh Apex Body, one of the two bodies who carried out negotiations with the Union government on behalf of the people of Ladakh. 'There has been no discussion on those issues as of now.' He added: 'The core issues remain unaddressed.' The Ladakhi leadership had sought a constitutional guarantee in the form of the Sixth Schedule which guarantees protections over land and a nominal autonomy for the country's tribal areas. In Ladakh, more than 97% of the population belongs to Scheduled Tribes. More crucially, the new rules do not impose any restrictions on outsiders buying land in Ladakh, the leaders said. What the new policy entails When New Delhi decided to create a separate Union territory of Ladakh without from the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, there was euphoria in Leh. However, the implications of the decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution soon became clear. Like the rest of the citizens of the now non-existent state of Jammu and Kashmir, the people of Ladakh had also lost their exclusive rights to own immovable property and get government jobs in the region. In August 2021, both Kargil and Leh rejected the Union territory status for Ladakh and demanded statehood instead. By 2022, the growing anxiety over non-locals being eligible to own land and take jobs in Ladakh had crystallized into a set of four demands of the Ladakh's leadership: statehood to Ladakh; constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution; separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts and the rollout of a recruitment process and a separate Public Service Commission for Ladakh. The Centre's June 2 decision partially addresses those demands. Under the new rules, only a person who has resided in Ladakh for a period of 15 years since its formation as a union territory on October 31, 2019, shall be eligible to be a domicile of the Union territory. A person who has studied for a period of seven years – from October 31, 2019 – and written Class 10 or Class 12 examinations in an educational institution located in the Union territory of Ladakh, also qualifies to be a domicile. The domicile rule, however, is 'valid only for the purpose of appointment to the posts under the Union territory of Ladakh as defined in Ladakh Civil Services Decentralization and Recruitment.' The Centre has also brought in an ordinance to amend the reservation policy. According to this, 85% of jobs and admissions in professional educational institutions in Ladakh shall be reserved for residents of the Union territory. This includes 80% of reservation for Scheduled Tribes, 4% for those living along the Line of Control or the Line of Actual Control and 1% for Scheduled Castes. This is in addition to the 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections. Prior to this, the cap on reservation in Jammu and Kashmir, of which Ladakh was a part, was 50 %. Leh Apex Body's Dorjay acknowledged that the central government has addressed employment-related insecurities. 'What's happened is that 95% of government jobs are now reserved for locals,' he said. But he added: 'It's a breakthrough but there's not much [more] to it.' Sajjad Kargili, the representative of Kargil Democratic Alliance, the group that represents Kargil district in the negotiations with the Centre, said that the domicile policy has left them dissatisfied. 'Our demand is that instead of 15 years, the mandatory duration of living in Ladakh should be 30 years if anyone wants to become a domicile,' he said. According to Kargili, the Ladakh leadership has already raised the matter with the Centre. 'They have assured us that they will consider this demand. It's in the minutes of the meeting,' Kargili added. The land question With the protections under Article 370 and Article 35A gone in 2019, there is no bar against buying immovable property in the region. 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In March 2020, just five months after formally becoming a Union territory and amidst a nationwide lockdown to fight the coronavirus, the Union home ministry issued the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order 2020. Under these rules, anyone who 'who has resided for a period of 15 years in the union territory of J&K or has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in Class 10th/12th examination in an educational institution located in the UT of J&K' qualifies to be a domicile of Jammu and Kashmir. At that time, many Kashmiri political leaders were in detention or under house arrest. Many political parties had described the order as 'humiliating'. National Conference leader and current chief minister Omar Abdullah, who had been just released from a long detention had questioned the timing of the order. 'At a time when all our efforts & attention should be focused on the #COVID outbreak the government slips in a new domicile law for J&K. Insult is heaped on injury when we see the law offers none of the protections that had been promised,' Abdullah had posted on his Twitter/X account on April 1, 2020. Unlike Ladakh, where the domicile rule applies prospectively, beginning from October 31, 2019, the domicile rules in the case of Jammu and Kashmir applied retrospectively. That means that anyone who had been living in Jammu and Kashmir for a period of 15 years until the notification of domicile rules in 2020 was eligible to be a domicile of Jammu and Kashmir. In other words, while Ladakh will get new domiciles only after 2034, in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, many non-natives, who fulfill the criteria of domicile rules, have already become part of Jammu and Kashmir's population. In April, the Jammu and Kashmir government informed the legislative Assembly that more than 83,000 individuals who were not originally permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir have been granted domicile certificates over the past two years. 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With the next meeting between the centre's High-Powered Committee and the Ladakh leadership likely towards the end of this month, the questions like statehood and Sixth Schedule status will rise again. 'We are not going back on these two demands,' Dorjay added.

Shashi Tharoor-led delegation ends US visit a powerful message –  ‘world knows the truth now'
Shashi Tharoor-led delegation ends US visit a powerful message –  ‘world knows the truth now'

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