In which year did the Indian Constituent Assembly adopt Article 370 of the Constitution of India, ensuring special status and internal autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir?

Option 2 : 1949

The correct answer is 1949.

• Included in the Constitution on October 17, 1949, Article 370 exempted J&K from the Indian Constitution (except Article 1 and Article 370 itself) and permitted the state to draft its own Constitution.
• It restricted Parliament’s legislative powers in respect of J&K.
• For extending a central law on subjects included in the Instrument of Accession (IoA), mere “consultation” with the state government was needed. But for extending it to other matters, “concurrence” of the state government was mandatory.
• The Instrument of Accession (IoA) came into play when the Indian Independence Act, 1947 divided British India into India and Pakistan.
• The Schedule appended to the Instrument of Accession gave Parliament the power to legislate in respect of J&K only on Defence, External Affairs, and Communications.
• Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947, and Governor-General Lord Mountbatten accepted it on October 27, 1947.

• On 5 August 2019, the Government of India issued a Presidential Order superseding the 1954 order and making all the provisions of the Indian constitution applicable to Jammu and Kashmir.
• The order was based on the resolution passed in both houses of India's parliament with a two-thirds majority.
• Further order on 6 August made all the clauses of Article 370 except clause 1 to be inoperative.
• In addition, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 was passed by the parliament, enacting the division of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories to be called Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh.
• The reorganization took place on 31 October 2019.