The Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet Sub-Committee formed to examine grievances related to the Union Territory’s revised reservation policy has completed its report and is set to present it before the Cabinet in its upcoming meeting. It may be recalled that the committee was constituted in response to widespread concerns following a March 2024 amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004, under the administration of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. The amendment increased reservation in government jobs from 43% to 70%, largely due to the inclusion of the Pahari community under the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category. The policy sparked protests and opposition from several quarters, prompting Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to set up the Cabinet Sub-Committee to reassess the implications of the move. The panel was given six months to complete its review.
While people are yet to know what the Cabinet Sub-Committee has recommended, this goes without saying that the system of reservations has proved a big nuisance even though the measure was well-intentioned when it was conceived. In order to equip unprivileged classes for improvement in their lot, reservation, if anything, serves as a short-cut method. It may no doubt yield some results in terms of speedy development, self-sufficiency and self-reliance of underprivileged classes, but at the same, it also undercuts the chances of normal growth of those who do not belong to any of the “privileged categories”. In fact the experience also shows that only a small fraction of unprivileged people have benefited over the years while a huge lot continues to rot in the mess they were in 1947.
Most often the people who got benefited from being a subject of a special class, category or area leave their place of birth, even their class and community, thus defeating the purpose of the reservation completely and making enough strong the cause of those who have time and again been voicing concerns against this discrimination in a society that does not have big enough differences among its subjects. One can cite numerous such examples wherein the ghost of reservation has crossed its boundaries and is taking away the share of those unfortunate souls who find themselves as being “officially” forward section of the society even if they starve after getting degrees from prestigious universities and institutes.
Nobody is against the progress and development of any particular class or community of people. But doing so at the basis of reservations is not fair, at least not to those who do not have the privilege of falling under any reserved category in terms of ethnicity, social standing or geography. Indeed this system is sowing the seeds of a much bigger social strife and discomfort – which clearly outweighs any and all the benefits of this practice. Even as doing away with the system of reservations may not be an easy decision for any government, but then something needs to be done for sure, because the status quo is hurting a huge chunk of people by confusing their basic needs, which is a sure recipe for disaster.
