Modi govt issues corrections for 52 errors in Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation bill

The Modi government has issued corrections for around 52 errors in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill,

According to a report in NDTV, whereas government officials had referred to the drawbacks in the bill as a "tale of missing I's and additional T's", but even an important year mentioned in the bill was found to be wrong. "It was supposed to be an important piece of legislation, and these mistakes show just what kind of a tearing hurry the government was in. This has turned out to be a comedy of errors," one of them said.

On Thursday, September 12, Central government released a 3-page document announcing corrections in the legislation which will divide Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh into two different union territories. The J&K reorganisation bill was passed by parliament on August 7, and a gazette notification was released two days later after President Ram Nath Kovind stamped his assent.

The bill had been prepared by senior officials in the ministry of Home affairs but it seems that it had not gone through extensive screening.

For instance, "administrator" was spelt as "adminstrator"; "article" as "artcle"; "territories" as "Tterritories"; "Shariat" as "Shariet"; and "safai karamcharis" as "safaikaramcharis", reported NDTV.

Not only this, a line stating that the delimitation process will be carried out for parliamentary constituency in the state has now been omitted from the bill.

Other mistakes in the bill are more than just spelling errors. The "Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir" became the "State of Jammu and Kashmir"; the "Institutions Act, 2004" became the "Institute's Act, 2004"; and the date "1909" was miswritten as "1951, reported NDTV

According to this report in NDTV, Modi govt believes that it's time to move on. "The anomalies in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act have been corrected with this corrigenda," a home ministry official said.

Modi govt has bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories through the Act, and the changes will come into effect from October 31. This move has been criticised by opposition parties and local activists, who claimed that the law was introduced hurriedly without taking ground realities into account.