Updated: October 28, 2020 2:56:52 pm
Members of the Popular Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (an alliance of political parties that includes the National Conference, PDP, CPI, CPM, and Popular Conference) at a meeting on October 24, 2020 (Express photo: Shuaib Masoodi)
The land laws that were amended and notified by the Center for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday (October 26) have skipped protection previously available to its “permanent residents”. It allows the purchase of non-agricultural land by third parties, although the government can provide some protection through notifications.
The decision, celebrated by BJP leaders and spokespersons, has given fresh air to fears expressed by political parties in Kashmir about attempts to fundamentally alter the demographics of the Valley. On Tuesday, the leader of the National Conference, Omar Abdullah, posted on Twitter that the Center had now finished “even the symbolism of the domicile,” and that “J&K is on sale now”.
The 2011 census showed that the religious composition of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir had remained almost unchanged for the previous half century. Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under the Constitution was removed on August 5, 2019, and the status was divided into two Union Territories.
What was the demographic composition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir before independence?
The 1941 pre-Independence census recorded that Muslims constituted 72.41% of the population and Hindus 25.01%. Thereafter, the proportion of Muslims in the state’s population gradually decreased.
So how did the demographics of Jammu and Kashmir change between Independence and now?
Jammu and Kashmir was not part of India’s first independent census in 1951. The 1961 census showed that Muslims, with a population of 24.32 lakh, constituted 68.31% of the state’s population of 35.60 lakh while the Hindus, with 10.13 lakh, constituted 28.45%.
A total of 50 years later, these percentages turned out identical: the 2011 census recorded the Muslim population at 85.67 lakh – again, 68.31% of the total population at 125.41 lakh (1.25 crore). And the Hindu population was 35.66 lakh, 28.43% of the total. 📣 Express Explained is now on Telegram
And how did the population proportion of the two communities change in the intermediate Censuses?
The percentage of Muslims in the (old) state began to fall after the 1961 census, when the community constituted 68.3 percent of the population. In the 1971 census it was 65.83% and in the 1981 census it dropped to 64.19%.
The beginning of the militancy ensured that no census could be conducted in Jammu and Kashmir in 1991. But in the next census of 2001, the proportion of Muslims in the population reached 66.97%, more than the proportion of the community in 1971. And in 2011, it had increased even more to reach exactly what it was in 1961 (68.31%).
Consequently, the proportion of Hindus in the population moved in the opposite direction: it increased from 28.45% in 1961 to 30.42% in 1971, and reached a maximum of 32.24% in 1981; before falling to 29.62% in 2001 and then to 28.43% in 2011.
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How has demographics changed at the individual district level?
Jammu and Kashmir originally had 14 districts: six in each of the Kashmir and Jammu divisions, and two in Ladakh. Ten of these districts were Muslim-majority: six in Kashmir, three in Jammu and one in Ladakh.
The three remaining districts of Jammu had a Hindu majority and the remaining district of Ladakh was majority Buddhist.
In 2006, eight new districts were created, bringing the total number of districts in the old state to 22.
Of these, 17 are Muslim majority: 10 in Kashmir, six in Jammu and one in Ladakh. Hindus are the majority community in four districts of the Jammu division; Buddhists are the majority in Leh.
In most districts of Kashmir, the percentage of Hindus increased in the 2011 census compared to 2001. The same happened with Muslims in the districts of Jammu.
What is the proportion of migrants in the population of (the former state of) Jammu and Kashmir?
Only about 1.64 lakhs (1.31%) of the 1.25 crore population of Jammu and Kashmir (according to the 2011 census) are people who stay there, but were born elsewhere. In India as a whole, 4.64% of the population lives in a state where they were not born.
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