Article 370 was meant to be 'temporary' provision in Constitution: Amit Shah
New Delhi, May 15: The now-scrapped Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was meant to be a "temporary" provision since the beginning and the framers of the Constitution had put it there "intelligently", Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday.
Inaugurating a training programme on legislative drafting, Shah also said that if a legislation is drafted well, there is "no need for any court to give any explanation to any law".
If the drafting is simple and clear, it will also be easier to educate people about the law with minimal chances of errors by the executive, he said and added that if "grey areas" are left in the drafting, they will lead to "encroachment" in interpretation. Shah said if the drafting is complete and lucid, its interpretation will also be clear.
Referring to Article 370, which the BJP government at the Centre repealed in 2019, the home minister said the whole country wanted that the provision of the Constitution should not be in existence.
He also highlighted that when the Article was framed, it was mentioned in the index as "Temporary Provision of Article 370". Even debates on the Article were missing from the records of constituent assembly debates, Shah said and added that they were not printed.
Shah said it could well be imagined that whoever had drafted it and those who were part of the constituent assembly, how intelligently they put it and how after lots of thought the "temporary" word was inserted.
"An article of the Constitution cannot be temporary, it can be amended. If you read it even today -- the old Constitution, it is clearly written as Temporary Provision of Article 370," he said.
"Article 370 is no longer in existence. It has been repealed now. But please read it. It was mentioned in the index as 'Temporary Provision of Article 370'. If this 'temporary' word was not written, what would have happened. Tell me, can a provision of the Constitution be 'temporary'," he asked.
The Article was scrapped on August 5, 2019, a few months after Shah took charge as the country's home minister, and the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The home minister said that a "legislation should reflect the political will of the Cabinet or Parliament".
"A law becomes undisputed if it is simple and clear. It (a law) should be framed in a way that the court does not need to make any explanation. When there is no need for any court to give any explanation to any law, that is a medal for you. Our aim has to be to draft a law as simple and clear as possible," Shah said.
When a law is made with ambiguities, it creates problems, the minister said and added that "if a law is made simple and clear, there is no need for the judiciary to intervene as grey areas leave scope for overstepping".
He said drafting of "the spirit of the legislature" is very significant work as simple translation is not sufficient and there has to be a proper explanation for it.
The home minister said the drafting skill of those who work in the legislative wing of Parliament and of state legislatures should be improved because the world is changing very rapidly.
Appreciating Parliament authorities for holding the training session, he said capacity building is very necessary and it has to be a continuous process. "We have to take proper action in this changing world and the laws have to be made according to today's requirements. If we don't have that kind of openness, we will be irrelevant," Shah said.
The home minister also said the BJP government under Narendra Modi has made lots of changes in laws. "We have scrapped nearly 2,000 irrelevant laws. Also, we have not hesitated to frame new laws," Shah said.
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India proposes preferential trade agreement with Mexico to deal with high tariffs
New Delhi (PTI): India has proposed a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Mexico to help domestic exporters deal with the steep tariffs announced by the South American country, a top government official said on Monday.
Mexico has decided to impose steep import tariffs - ranging from about 5 per cent to as high as 50 per cent on a wide range of goods (about 1,463 tariff lines) from countries that do not have free trade agreements with Mexico, including India, China, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said that India has engaged with the country on the issue.
"Technical level talks are on...The only fast way forward is to try to get a preferential trade agreement (PTA) because an FTA (free trade agreement) will take a lot of time. So we are trying to see what can be a good way forward," he told reporters here.
While in an FTA two trading partners either significantly reduce or eliminate import duties on maximum number of goods traded between them, in a PTA, duties are cut or removed on a limited number of products.
Trading partners of Mexico cannot file a compliant against the decision on imposing high tariffs as they are WTO (World Trade Organisation) compatible.
The duties are within their bound rates, he said, adding that their primary target was not India.
"We have proposed a PTA because its a WTO-compatible way forward... we can do a PTA and try to get concessions that are required for Indian supply chains and similarly offer them concessions where they have export interests in India," Agrawal said.
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Citing support for local production and correction of trade imbalances, Mexico has approved an increase in MFN (most favoured nation) import tariffs (5-50 per cent) with effect from January 1, 2026 on 1,455 tariff lines (or product categories) within the WTO framework, targeting non-FTA partners.
Preliminary estimates suggest that this affects India's around USD 2 billion exports to Mexico particularly -- automobile, two-wheelers, auto parts, textiles, iron and steel, plastics, leather and footwear.
The measure is also aimed at curbing Chinese imports.
India-Mexico merchandise trade totalled USD 8.74 billion in 2024, with exports USD 5.73 billion, imports USD 3.01 billion, and a trade surplus of USD 2.72 billion.
The government has been continuously and comprehensively assessing Mexico's tariff revisions since the issue emerged, engaging stakeholders, safeguarding the interests of Indian exporters, and pursuing constructive dialogue to ensure a stable trade environment benefiting businesses and consumers in both countries.
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Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director General Ajay Sahai has said that Mexico's decision is a matter of concern, particularly for sectors like automobiles and auto components, machinery, electrical and electronics, organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and plastics.
"Such steep duties will erode our competitiveness and risk, disrupting supply chains that have taken years to develop," Sahai said, adding that this development also underlines the little urgency for India and Mexico to fast-track a comprehensive trade agreement.
Domestic auto component manufacturers will face enhanced cost pressures with Mexico hiking duties on Indian imports, according to industry body ACMA.
