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Ishfaq Ahmad, 36, recently completed his PhD in political science from the University of Kashmir. Ahmad worked tirelessly to earn his degree, in the hope of getting a government job so he could support his family of six. But his hopes were dashed: The Lieutenant Governor (L-G)-led administration implemented a new reservation policy, which reduced the general merit quota to just 40 per cent from 50 per cent.
The quota is hugely disproportionate to the Union Territory’s (UT) general category, which accounts for 69 per cent of the population. This is inscrutable, considering that in all other States and UTs, the quota system is based proportionately on caste-based populations.
In December 2023, the Lok Sabha passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, which provides reservation in jobs, educational institutes, and the Jammu and Kashmir legislature under the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. The Bill aims at empowering the Pahari ethnic group, Padari tribes, Kolis, and Gadda Brahmins by giving them ST status, following a long pending demand from these communities.
The inclusion of these communities in the ST list in Jammu and Kashmir, the government assured, will have no impact on the reservations currently available to ST communities such as Gujjars and Bakarwals.
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While it left the quota for Gujjar and Barakwals untouched, the Jammu and Kashmir L-G’s administration, this March, approved a 10 per cent reservation for newly included tribes, such as Paharis; it also added 15 new castes in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. And so, with the new policy, more than 60 per cent of seats go to reserved category population (tribal communities and OBCs).
Possible diminished opportunitiesSeveral students took to the streets to protest their possible diminished opportunities, especially in government sector jobs. “We aren’t against the reservation system but it should be based on the parameters followed in other States,” said Mohammad Danish, a student of Kashmir University. The quota system in other States is based on caste and population.
Medical students are at the forefront of protests against the reservation policy and the recent reduction of open merit seats in NEET PG admissions. Aatif Sanaie, one such student, told Frontline that they are opposed to the reservation system’s “excessive implementation”. Open merit typically exceeds 50 per cent as it is accessible to all candidates, he said. “It is regrettable that in Jammu and Kashmir, it has been reduced to just 40 per cent.”
On December 23, National Conference (NC) MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, along with hundreds of unemployed youth, protested outside Chief Minister Omar Abdullah home at Gupkar Road, Srinagar. Mehdi is supporting the demands of rationalising the reservation policy. Ahead of the Assembly election, which was held after a gap of 10 years in the Union Territory, almost all political parties, including the ruling NC promised in their election manifesto that the policy “will be reviewed and any injustice and imbalance will be corrected”.
With the Abdullah government at the helm, the call for undoing the policy has grown louder, although no concrete steps have been taken to address the matter. The NC government in November, however, formed a Cabinet subcommittee to look into the reservation policy.
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Noor Ahmad Baba, formerly a professor of political science at Kashmir University, highlighted the potential of the reservation policy, as formulated and implemented, to deepen social cleavages across communities in Jammu and Kashmir. “The policy was formulated by the central government and implemented under the LG’s administration”, noted Prof. Baba.
Under the current power dynamics, Baba said there is also ambiguity regarding whether the Abdullah-led government possesses the authority to reverse the policy. “The present elected government faces a dilemma: retaining the current reservation system risks alienating some segments of its electorate, while changing it could lead to similar consequences,” he added.
Political experts argue that the new reservation policy requires an urgent “restructuring” to promote social justice so that the downtrodden get assimilated into the national mainstream. “The government should take steps to do away with such imbalance and focus more on underdeveloped groups than the already developed ones,” said Suheel Rasool Mir, a political analyst and a research scholar from Kashmir. What is required, he said, is to make the policy judicious and reasonable and to spread the benefits of reservation to a wider section.
Severe unemployment crisisThe matter has now reached the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, where the aspirants have challenged the policy and prayed for a stay. The petition, accessed by Frontline, argued that the reservation policy aims to uplift the unprivileged classes as per their percentage in the overall population, but it should not be at the cost of the merit and percentage of open merit and RBA (residents of backward areas) category candidates who constitute near about 83 per cent population of Jammu and Kashmir.
The petition contends that the new quota policy has the potential to incite social unrest among the youth in the UT. Denying meritorious candidates government jobs due to an arbitrary 60 per cent reservation could undermine the social fabric, warranting the policy to be set aside.
When New Delhi revoked the special status granted under Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019, it asserted that the move was essential to end unemployment and achieve economic stability. But the region continues to face a severe unemployment crisis, with the youth struggling to find stable and meaningful jobs.
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According to government’s Periodic Labour Force Survey conducted during July 2023 to June 2024, Jammu and Kashmir is in sixth place on the list of States/UTs with the highest unemployment rates in India. The unemployment rate in the UT was 32 per cent in July-September 2024, as per the survey, which is the highest in the country.
Due to limited opportunities in the private sector, most of the UT’s population has traditionally hoped for government jobs exclusively reserved for them. However, following the 2019 abrogation, these government jobs were opened up to people from across the country.
As for the industrial sector, opportunities are limited in the Valley. In 2019, the Centre claimed that the nullification of the special status to Jammu and Kashmir will bring in investors to the Valley. However, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs revealed in 2023 that investments have in fact declined in the past four years.
And so, for students like Ishfaq, and many others from the general category, who aspire for government jobs or placements in educational institutions, the new reservation policy in the valley dampens their hopes for a secure future.
Auqib Javeed is an independent journalist based in Jammu and Kashmir. He reports on human rights, politics, and the environment.