Ashfaq Ahmed, 36, recently completed his PhD in Political Science from the University of Kashmir. Ahmed worked tirelessly to earn his degree, hoping for a government job so he could support his family of six. But their hopes were dashed: the Lieutenant Governor (LG)-led administration implemented a new reservation policy, reducing the general merit quota from 50 percent to just 40 percent.

This quota is highly disproportionate to the Union Territory (UT) general category, which is 69% of the population. This is inconceivable, considering that in all other states and Union Territories, the quota system is proportionally based on caste-based population.

In December 2023, the Lok Sabha passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, which provides for reservation under the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category in jobs, educational institutions and the Jammu and Kashmir legislature. The bill aims to empower the hill ethnic groups, Padari tribes, Kolas, and Gada Brahmins by giving them ST status, following a long-pending demand by these communities.

Including these communities in the list of STs Jammu and KashmirThe government has assured that ST communities like Gujars and Bakarwals will not be affected by the currently available protections.

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While it left the quota of Gujjars and Barkwals untouched, the Jammu and Kashmir LG administration, this March, approved 10 percent reservation for the newly added tribes, such as the Paharis. It also added 15 new castes under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. And so, with the new policy, more than 60 percent of the seats go to certain categories of population (tribal communities and OBCs).

Possible fewer opportunities

Many students took to the streets and protested against their possible reduced opportunities, especially in government sector jobs. “We are not against the reservation system but it should be based on the parameters in other states,” said Muhammad Danish, a student of Kashmir University. In other states the quota system is based on caste and population.

Medical students are at the forefront of protests against the reservation policy and the recent reduction in open merit seats in NEET PG admissions. One such student Atif Sani said The front line that they are against the “excessive enforcement” of the reservation system; He said that open merit is usually more than 50 percent as it is accessible to all candidates. “It is sad that it has come down to just 40 percent in Jammu and Kashmir.”

On December 23, National Conference (NC) MP Agha Ruhollah Mehdi protested outside with hundreds of unemployed youth. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah House in Gupkar Road, Srinagar. Mehdi is supporting the demands to rationalize the reservation policy. Ahead of the assembly elections in the Union Territory after a gap of 10 years, almost all political parties, including the ruling NC, had promised in their election manifestos that “the policy will be reviewed and any injustice and The imbalance will be corrected”. .

With Abdullah’s government in place, calls to repeal the policy have gained momentum, although no concrete steps have been taken to address the issue. The NC government in November, however, constituted a cabinet sub-committee to look into the reservation policy.

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Noor Ahmed Baba, formerly a professor of political science at the University of Kashmir, highlighted the potential for the reservation policy to be formulated and implemented to deepen social rifts in the communities of Jammu and Kashmir. “This policy was formulated by the central government and was implemented under the administration of the LG”, Prof. Baba noted.

Under the current power dynamics, Baba said there is also uncertainty about whether the Abdullah-led government has the power to change policy. “The current elected government faces a dilemma: retaining the existing reservation system risks alienating sections of its electorate, while changing it could have similar consequences,” he added.

Political experts argue that there is an urgent need for “restructuring” to promote social justice in the new reservation policy so that the marginalized can join the mainstream. Kashmir-based political analyst and research scholar Sohail Rasool Mir said, “The government should take steps to address such imbalances and focus more on the less developed groups than the already developed groups. ” He said that there is a need to make the policy fair and reasonable and to spread the benefits of reservation to a wider section.

Severe unemployment crisis

The matter has now reached the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, where the candidates have challenged the policy and prayed for a stay. The application has been accessed. The front lineargued that the objective of the reservation policy is to promote the underprivileged sections as per their percentage in the total population, but not at the expense of the percentage of merit and open merit and RBA (Residents of Backward Areas) category candidates. Should be made almost. About 83% of the population of Jammu and Kashmir.

The petition states that the new quota policy has the potential to incite social unrest among the youth in UT. Denying government jobs to deserving candidates because of an arbitrary 60 percent reservation can damage the social fabric, warrants setting the policy aside.

When New Delhi Abrogated the special status. Issued in 2019 under Article 370 of the Constitution, it asserted that the move was necessary to eradicate unemployment and achieve economic stability. But the region faces a serious unemployment crisis, with young people struggling to find stable and meaningful jobs.

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According to the government’s periodic Labor Force Survey conducted from July 2023 to June 2024, Jammu and Kashmir ranks sixth in the list of states/UTs with the highest unemployment rate in India. According to the survey, the unemployment rate in UT was 32 percent in July-September 2024, the highest in the country.

Due to limited opportunities in the private sector, most of the UT population traditionally aspires to government jobs that are specifically reserved for them. However, after the cancellation of 2019, these government jobs were opened to people across the country.

As far as the industrial sector is concerned, opportunities in the valley are limited. In 2019, the Center claimed that revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status would bring investors to the Valley. However, the Union Home Ministry revealed in 2023 that investment had actually declined over the past four years.

And thus, for students like Ashfaq, and many others from the general category, who aspire to government jobs or placements in educational institutions, the new reservation policy in the Valley would have dampened their hopes of a secure future. is

Aqib Javed is a freelance journalist based in Jammu and Kashmir. He reports on human rights, politics and the environment.