Shafiq Mir asks CM to take “Modi-type bold decision” in rationalisation of reservations

“This ST-1, ST-2 tamasha is in J&K only. In rest of India, there’s only ST”

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference chairman and the Apni Party leader based in Rajouri, Shafiq Mir has asked Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take a ‘bold decision’ to rationalise the system of reservations in the government jobs and scholarships in the Union Territory.
In a telephonic conversation with The News Now, journalist-turned-politician, Shafiq Mir, said that the reservation system in Jammu and Kashmir was “based fundamentally on injustice from its day one” in the erstwhile State. “Mr Omar Abdullah has established his popular government with a massive mandate. “Rather than constituting sub committees, he must put his foot down and take Prime Minister Modi-type bold decision to undo the injustice with the Open Merit category and rationalise the system to ensure justice to all categories”, Mir asserted.
Mir, who founded J&K Panchayat Conference in 2012 and headed this amalgam of different unions without break till 2024, was part of the struggle that convinced the BJP Government at the Centre to grant Scheduled Tribe status to the Paharis and some other communities in Jammu and Kashmir. He joined the Congress party in 2012 but in 2020 he shifted to Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party.
Mir was elected as Sarpanch of his area in Rajouri twice—first in 2011 and later in 2018. In the last 10 years, he met a number of the Union Ministers in New Delhi and demanded ST status to the Paharis on the pattern of the Gujjar community. He was among the politicians who welcomed the Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s declaration of ST status for the Paharis in 2022.
Mir justified the ST status to the Paharis but opposed a separate “ST-2” category with a dedicated 10% reservation. “In the entire country, there’s only ST. This ST-1, ST-2 tamasha is in J&K alone”, Mir said, emphasising the need to deliver justice to all ethnic and minor communities but not at the cost of the justice of the General Category.
“In J&K, the General Category constitutes for 70% of the population while the total size of the reserved categories is only 30%. But, as per the existing reservation policy, 70% of the government jobs go to the reserved categories and only 30% to the Open Merit candidates. This is a total travesty of justice. It is not justifiable in any circumstances. Chief Minister Omar Sahab must implement his election manifesto commitment and radically review the reservation policy”, Mr asserted.
He added: “I was among the activists who struggled for ST status to the Paharis. I am myself a beneficiary of this ST-2 reservation of 10%. But injustice is injustice. We must accept the reality and ensure justice to all categories including the Open Merit candidates”.
Mir said that the status of all categories should continue intact but the reservations should be allocated as per the socio-economic indicators, justice and the population size of the categories. “Currently, 60-70% seats are reserved for different categories and only 30-40% are left open. But the candidates of the reserved categories are also free to compete on the Open Merit seats. The net result is that a grave sense of injustice is persisting and growing dangerously in the largest section of the UT’s population”, Mir added.
“Have full self-confidence. Nothing wrong is going to happen. Every right thinking, conscious individual is at your back on this issue. Don’t keep yourself restricted to just lip service. Be bold like PM Modi and rationalise this unjust system”, Mr addressed the Chief Minister. “People can’t be held hostage to vote-bank politics”, he said. He stressed that the National Conference government was fully competent by law to allot different quotas of reservations to different categories”.
Of late, the Open Merit candidates have been demanding appropriate weightage to meritocracy. They are demanding reservation of 60-70% jobs and scholarships for the general category candidates. They are complaining that highly influential politicians and government officers have exploited the reservation quotas for themselves and their children who have been actually residing in posh areas of Jammu, Srinagar and other towns.
From several quarters, there are specific demands that RBA, ST-2, EWS, ALC/IB categories should be completely abolished because of the misuse of such reservations and a remarkable socio-economic transformation in almost all RBA villages in the last 40 years.

Updated On 11/27/2024 12:09:14 AM