New reservation policy comes into force in Jammu and Kashmir; Several sections including those in hilly areas get reservation for the first time

After Article 370 was effectively nullified and the Indian Constitution was fully implemented in Jammu and Kashmir, a new policy related to reservation in the Union Territory has been announced. As per a JammuKashmirNow report, the government has declared a reservation policy in proportion to the population of each section of the society.

The distribution of reservation according to the proportion of the population and condition of the area sets right a very partial policy that was followed till 2019.

According to the latest order from the office of the governor, reservations have been given to various sections of the union territory as follows.

Scheduled Caste – 8% (previously 8%)

Scheduled Tribe – 10% (previously 10%)

Category Other social castes – 4% (previously 2%)

Residents of LOC / International Border – 4% (previously 3%)

Backward Area (RBA) – 10% (previously 20%)

Hill Area – 4% (No reservation before)

Economic Weaker Section – 10% (Applicable for the first time)

Ex-servicemen – 6%

Physical Disabilities – 4%

Scheduled Caste – 8% (previously 8%)

ST – 10%

Category Other social castes – 4%

Residents of LOC / International Border – 4%

Backward Region (RBA) – 10%

Hill Area – 4%

Economic Weaker Section – 10%

Defense / Para-Military / Police – 2%

Sports – 1%

Scheduled Caste – 8% (previously 8%)

ST – 10%

Category Other social castes – 4%

Residents of LOC / International Border – 4%

Backward Region (RBA) – 10%

Hill Area – 4%

Economic Weaker Section – 10%

Physical Disabilities – 4%

The state government has announced reservation for the first time to the people living in the hilly areas thus bringing in a big change in the reservation policy. Due to this new policy, people living in the areas like Poonch, Rajouri, Uri, Karnah, Tangdhar will be hugely benefited. The people living in these hilly areas had been demanding reservation for years but were neglected.

Reservation Scam Invalidated

The government has brought in another major change in the reservation of backward areas i.e. RBA (Residents of Backward Areas). In fact, under the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act in 2004, a category called RBA (Residents of Backward Areas) was created which was to determine reservation based on geographical area. For this, 20 percent reservation was fixed. The basic idea for this category was to provide reservation in government jobs to people from remote areas, which were considered to be extremely inaccessible areas. Those areas which were economically backward areas, remote villages, where development had not reached were to be kept in this category. However, no official parameters were decided to recognize these areas. Taking advantage of this, the foundations of the massive reservation scam were laid.

After 2004, Abdullah and Mehbooba governments began including areas within the Kashmir valley which were outside the parameters of the category of a backward or remote areas. These areas had already become towns from villages but since the parties got votes from here, they were nominated as ‘backward areas’. Many of these areas, notified as backward areas, are located just on the outskirts of the cities and are posh areas!

With the promulgation of the new reservation policy, the government has taken a big step and corrected the historic mistakes.