Revision summary
August 2019 ended the operational special status under Article 370 and Article 35A. The State became two Union Territories; many Union laws and reservations can now apply. That legal change can invite investment, campuses, and a national land-labour market. Shutdowns, alienation, and unsettled politics can still freeze tourism and private capital. Development follows only if law, security, and local political voice move together.
Model answer
Introduction
On 5 August 2019 the Union, through Constitution Order 272 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, ended the special-status practice under Article 370 and recast the State into two Union Territories. Discussion of development must separate the legal opening of laws and investment from the political and security conditions that actually decide whether factories, tourism, and jobs arrive.
Body
What changed in the status quo
- Article 370 had limited the Union’s power to apply laws to Jammu and Kashmir and, with Article 35A, had ring-fenced State-defined permanent-resident rules on land and jobs.
- The 2019 action applied the Indian Constitution more fully, ended 35A, and created the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislature) and Ladakh (without one).
- Central labour, land, education, and reservation laws could now travel into the region without the earlier State-constitution filter.
Possible development gains
- A single national market in land, company law, and banking can, in principle, lower the political-risk premium that kept large private capital away.
- Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and later local-job rules can widen public-employment access that 35A had frozen for many groups.
- Infrastructure, AIIMS-type health, IIT/IIM campuses, and tourism circuits can be budgeted as ordinary Union programmes rather than as exceptional packages only.
- For Ladakh, Union Territory status promised a direct Delhi window for roads, renewable power, and border-area development, though without an assembly.
Conditions that can block development
- Prolonged communication shutdowns, detention of political leadership, and security operations freeze tourism, horticulture, and small trade even if statutes are “open”.
- Alienation and a trust deficit can turn investment notices into paper; development without political voice is not automatic peace.
- Land and demography fears, if unmanaged, produce litigation and local resistance that scare honest capital as much as militancy does.
- Federal critique—that a State was reorganised without its assembly’s effective consent—keeps a cloud over institutional stability that investors also read.
Balance
- Legal integration can be a development instrument only if security normalises, local parties return to competitive politics, and jobs are visible to youth in the Valley, Jammu, and Ladakh alike.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD A[Art 370 action 2019] --> L[Constitution and laws apply] A --> U[Two UTs J and K and Ladakh] L --> D[Investment reservations infrastructure] U --> D S[Security and politics] --> D D --> O[On-ground development]
Conclusion
The 2019 action on Article 370 changed the legal status quo so that national laws, reservations, and investment rules can apply in Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh. Development effects will be positive only if that legal opening is matched by restored politics, connectivity, and security; statute books alone do not build factories or orchards.
Quick related
Students also ask
-
Discuss the reasons, objectives and functions of NITI Aayog and describe the recently reorganised NITI Aayog.
Next question in the 2018 paper (Q14). View answer →
-
Did the 2019 action by itself guarantee development?
No. It removed a legal filter on Union laws and land-job rules. Actual development still needs security, politics, and jobs that residents can see.
-
Was Ladakh’s development demand the same as the Valley’s?
No. Ladakh had long sought UT status for a direct Union window. The Valley’s debate was about autonomy, identity, and Article 370 itself. One statute hit both theatres.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
-
2024 · Q2 · UPGS2 · 8 marks
Write the role of NITI Aayog in the development of India. -
2023 · Q7 · UPGS2 · 8 marks
“The application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is for delivering government service.” Discuss. -
2022 · Q12 · UPGS2 · 12 marks
Describing the objective of the “Mission Shakti” program run by the Government of Uttar Pradesh, tell how far it has been successful in achieving its objectives? -
2021 · Q1 · UPGS2 · 8 marks
Discuss the role of Non-Government Organizations in the process of policy formulation. -
2020 · Q5 · UPGS2 · 8 marks
Examine the role of Non-Governmental Organisations (N.G.O.s) for the rural development in Uttar Pradesh. -
2020 · Q6 · UPGS2 · 8 marks
Evaluate the role of Information and Communications Technology in the context of government policies. -
2019 · Q6 · UPGS2 · 8 marks
Describe the Vulture Conservation Project of Uttar Pradesh Government. -
2019 · Q17 · UPGS2 · 12 marks
What do you understand by 'Bodo Problem'? Do you think that the Bodo Peace Agreement 2020 will ensure the development and peace in Assam? Evaluate.
More from this paper
Q1 · UPSC Mains 2018 · UPGS2 · 8 marks
Why is India opposed to mediation on Kashmir?
Indian Constitution
India treats Jammu and Kashmir as an integral Union subject after accession in 1947. Simla 1972 and later bilateral texts require peaceful settlement without a mediator. Mediation would internationalise what New Delhi now frames as an internal constitutional and security issue. Pakistan is a counterpart for talks on terror and peace, not a co-sovereign over Indian territory. India therefore rejects UN, great-power, or other good-offices formulas that write a Kashmir settlement.
Q2 · UPSC Mains 2018 · UPGS2 · 8 marks
Critically examine the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.
India and its neighbours
The ICJ is the UN’s principal judicial organ under the Charter and the ICJ Statute. Contentious cases lie only between states and only with consent via special agreement, treaty, or optional clause. The Court rules on its own jurisdiction, as in Jadhav under the consular Optional Protocol. Advisory opinions go to authorised UN organs and are not binding judgments. Enforcement depends on states and the Security Council; individuals are not on trial at the ICJ.
Q3 · UPSC Mains 2018 · UPGS2 · 8 marks
Throw light on the challenges and problems of farmers and the agriculture sector in Uttar Pradesh. Suggest measures for improvement.
Social sector services
Uttar Pradesh leads in foodgrain output but farm incomes stay low on tiny holdings and uneven water. Eastern floods and Bundelkhand droughts sit beside western groundwater stress and cane-payment delays. Paddy–wheat lock-in and thin mandi–FPO reach keep farmers as price-takers. Remedies are last-mile irrigation, statutory cane dues, FPO and e-NAM markets, and a shift to pulses, millets, milk, and processing. Land-lease clarity and working crop insurance must travel with those measures.
Toppers' copies
Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.