The new reservation policy in Jammu & Kashmir has sparked a heated debate, with data revealing a stark regional disparity. With quotas overwhelmingly favouring Jammu over Kashmir, opposition leaders and student protesters are demanding urgent reforms. A report by Riyaz Wani
The issue of reservations has dominated the budget session of J&K Assembly, with opposition parties, except the BJP, aggressively raising the issue. The debate came to a head when in response to a question by the People’s Conference leader Sajjad Gani Lone, the government shared the data on the reservation benefits enjoyed by the people in Kashmir valley and the Jammu region.
The figures tabled in the Assembly showed all scheduled caste (SC) beneficiaries from Jammu, and not a single recipient from Kashmir. Similarly, 85.3% of those benefiting under the scheduled tribe (ST) category are from Jammu, and only 14.7% from the Valley. Ditto for economic weaker section (EWS) category: 92.3% of the beneficiaries are from Jammu and a mere 7.7% are from Kashmir. Jammu-based candidates also dominate across other categories, such as the Actual Line of Control (ALC) and International Border (IB).
The data shocked Kashmiri politicians, some of whom said that the disparity in terms of the distribution of the reservation benefits between the two regions was beyond what they had imagined it to be.
“This is a shocker regionally – loss due to reservation much higher than anticipated,” Lone tweeted. “Kashmir as region is far behind. The net loss of quotas to the Kashmiri speaking population is of a much higher scale than we had thought. The whole reservation concept is rigged against the Kashmiri-speaking population and against STs or EWSs living in Kashmir.”
This despite the fact that Kashmir valley comprises around 55% of J&K’s population, as per the 2011 census. Government jobs mean a lot for a region that has a 32% unemployment rate and the government sector is a major employer in absence of a robust industrial sector and limited unorganised private sector.
The elected government headed by Omar Abdullah has formed a cabinet sub-committee to take stock of the issue and address the imbalance. The committee has been given six months to complete its report.
The reservation policy has also been challenged in the J&K High Court. The petitioner, Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, who previously challenged abrogation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court, along with co-petitioners, argues that the 2024 amendments made by the Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory government are unconstitutional and violate principles of equity and fairness.
