Umer Maqbool
Jammu, Dec 3: The Jammu & Kashmir cabinet on Wednesday greenlit a proposal to slash quotas in the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Reserved Backward Area (RBA) categories to enhance the share of Open Merit (OM) by 10 percent.
Authoritative sources revealed that under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the cabinet approved a seven percent cut in the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota and a three percent cut in the Reserved Backward Area (RBA) quota. The shake-up is designed to boost the Open Merit share by a staggering 10 percent.
“The cabinet has implemented the sub-committee’s recommendations in toto,” they disclosed.
The Cabinet Sub-Committee (CSC) had recommended against tinkering with Scheduled Tribe-I, Scheduled Tribe-II, Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, and Actual Line of Control/International Border categories.
The proposal will now be sent to the Lieutenant Governor for approval. If cleared, this decision is expected to enhance the OM share by 10 percent.
With this move, the Open Merit (OM) share would rise to 50 percent in vertical reservation.
The Lieutenant Governor may have to make a prior reference to the Union Government on the matter, as the Transaction of Business of the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Rules, 2019 mandate that the Lieutenant Governor shall consult the Central Government in the Ministry of Home Affairs, or the appropriate Ministry, with a copy to the Ministry of Home Affairs, in respect of cases that affect or are likely to affect the interests of any minority community, Scheduled Castes, or the Backward Classes.
Currently, the ST-I, ST-II, RBA, and EWS categories each have 10 percent reservation, while the Scheduled Castes and OBCs each have 8 percent, and the ALC/IB category has 4 percent reservation.
Opposition parties, reservations
The opposition parties are yet to react to the cabinet proposal.
The BJP said that they do not know what the cabinet has proposed and will comment only after the proposal is in the public domain. “It would be premature to comment on the issue at this juncture,” BJP spokesman Sunil Sethi said.
MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, one of the politicians spearheading the campaign for rationalisation, could not be contacted for comments.
Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone, who was also advocating rationalisation of reservation, has also not reacted to the proposal but accused the government of pitting Kashmiris against each other. “I will reiterate that in the context of the reservations issue, the elected government is passing on the buck and trying to create a wedge in the Kashmiri ranks, pitting one Kashmiri against another,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Lone said the elected government can easily restore district and divisional recruitment through an Act in the Assembly.
