Populist instincts: Jharkhand's march towards provincialism

Its new domicile policy will weaken the delicate mechanisms of federalism that allow any Indian citizen to seek employment anywhere in the country

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s response to surviving a bitterly contested trust vote in the Assembly has been to double down on provincialism, which has become a go-to policy for most parties in power in India today. The Local Resident of Jharkhand Bill, which the state Cabinet passed recently, proposes to keep 1932 as the cut-off year for “proof of land records” to define a “local”, which would, in turn, determine access to state benefits. This intent was clear from a parallel Bill approved by the Cabinet to increase reservations from the Supreme Court mandated 50 per cent to 67