From the announcement of the new reserve policy in March 2024, resentment and anger have bones in Jammu and Kashmir (J & K). The storm of the policy of elaboration of beer on the subject has caused a fierce debate about the attack by merit and the inempting crisis in a region that is already fighting with severe shortage of employment.
A biased policy
On March 15, 2024, the administration of Lieutenant Governor of J & K approved a 10 percent reserve for freshly included tribes, including the Pahari community, under the scheduled tribe category (ST).
In addition, the Administration sanctioned the inclusion of 15 more castes in the category of other backward classes (OBC), while improving the General Reserve for OBC to 8 percent, marking a significant policy change in the framework of affirmative action in the region.
Prior to 2019, J & K’s Reservation Framework Allocated 8 per Cent for Scheduled Castes (SC), 10 per cent for scheduled tribes (ST), 4 per cent for other backward class (OBC), 4 per cent for residents along the line of current control or the border, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 Border, and the border, and the border border and the border, and the border, border, and the border border, and the border and the border. and 10 percent for economically weaker sections (EWS).
In addition, 10 percent was designated under horizontal reserve for categories such as the former service and people with disabilities (PWD), which carries the cumulative reserve to 56 percent.
With the March 15 decision to introduce an additional 10 percent fee for Paharis and three other tribes, the total reserve now becomes 70 percent unprecedented. This expansion contrasts with the 2011 census data, which indicates that the category of open merit constitutes 69 percent of the population, increasing the Conerns on the narrowing space for opportunities based on merit.
The official data presented in the ongoing budget session of the J&K Assembly expose the regional Stark disparity in the implementation of the reserve policy of the Union territory, the favorites of the Jammu region while accompanying Cashmira.
The figures reveal an alarming disparity: each scheduled caste beneficiary (SC) comes from JAMMU. Similarly, 85.3 percent of the beneficiaries of the programmed tribe (ST) belong to Jammu, while only 14.7 percent are from the valley.
The category of the Economic Waker section (EWS) exhibits a uniform bias, with 92.3 percent of Jammu beneficiaries and only 7.7 percent of coffee. The same pattern extends to other categories, such as the real control line (LC) and the international border (IB), where Jammu -based candidates dominate.
This shameless inequality is particularly atrocious since Kashmiro represents approximately 55 percent of the population of J&K, according to the 2011 census. With only 30 percent of the seats now assigned for the category of open merit, the reserve framework in J & K has diverted an openly exclusive and regional structure.
Labor crisis
J & K faces a severe inemployment crisis, pushing young people to exploitation work and exposing the issue to subsequent psychological anguish. The latest data of the periodic workforce survey indicate that inemployent young people in the region are 32 percent, the highest in India.
The lack of employment opportunities is forcing thousands of servile work, and the doctoral holders resort to the sale of dry fruits and juice in the cars. The crisis is also pushing women from Kashmir to low jobs.
However, within J & K, the Jammu region has received most jobs in recruitments carried out by regional recruitment agencies such as JKSSB and JKPSC. The new reserve policy, which explicitly favors the Jammu region over the Kashmir Valley, only war the labor crisis in the valley.
By disproportionately benefiting the candidates of the Dominant Jammu region, it reinforces the structural inequalities against the young people of Kashmir and runs the risk of deepening the regional divisions in an already political volatile area.
As work opportunities decrease, Kashmir is witnessing a growing brain drainage, with more than 30,000 J & K students who choose to study abroad every year.
Voting Bank Policy
Historically, reserves have been framed as effective affirmative measures to raise marginalized communities and establish equal society. However, in J&K, the current reserve policy was promoted more by politics than by a genuine effort to rectify centuries of historical injustices against marginalized communities in the region.
Following the abrogation of article 370, the Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party sought to strengthen its statement that the people of J & K supported the measure. To legitimize this narrative, he made an aggressive impulse to form the first government in J&K after 2019.
As part of this strategy, the status of the BJP tribe (ST) to the Pahari community, which includes more than 10 Lakh of people (8.16 percent of the population of the previous state, according to the 2018 government survey).
This calculated movement aimed to strengthen the electoral perspectives of the BJP in the districts of Razouri and Poonch of Muslim majority, which helped him go closer to the majority brand. Although the BJP electoral gambit finally failed, and could not form the government, the enlarged reserve policy continues to marginalize the open merit population in J&K.
The way to follow
Reserve policies must be framed with the consideration of the demographic divisions of the regions. The biased reserve policy is inherently unfair and is leading to a massacre of merit. The reserve must be rationalized to guarantee economic justice for the disadvantaged sections without compromising the interests of the general category, which constitutes more than 70 percent of the population of the region.
The J&K government has established a subcommittee to review the issue and suggest changes in existing policy. It is imperative that the panel consult all interested parties and consider their opinions to make the policy really inclusive and practical.
The obvious injustice of the disproportionate reserve must be rectified without delay, or the young people of Kashmir will submerge a deep disappointment, further fuels their sense of alienation and despair.
Gani teaches political in government. Degree College, Beerwah, J & K; Jamal is a Cashmir
Posted on April 29, 2025