“General category job aspirants taking the legal course despite formation of a cabinet subcommittee shows the level of disillusionment brewing up among the youth in Jammu & Kashmir over the new reservation policy.”
The reservations in Government jobs and admissions for professional courses through pan India eligibility tests like NEET going below 50% has upset aspirants of general category for some right reasons in Jammu & Kashmir. Though implementation of a pan India reservation system for Jammu & Kashmir is highly advisable but changes in Jammu & Kashmir reservation policy have been introduced and implemented for some different reasons. Amid arguments and counter arguments both in favour and against the reservation policy the newly elected Omar Abdullah led National Conference Government has constituted a cabinet subcommittee for review of the reservation policy through negotiations with all stakeholders. Paying no heed to the Government’s decision of forming a cabinet subcommittee over the issue the General Category job aspirants have filed a petition against the new reservation policy in the common high court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladhak. So general category job aspirants taking the legal course despite formation of a cabinet subcommittee shows the level of disillusionment brewing up among the youth in Jammu & Kashmir over the new reservation policy. It is an irrefutable fact that compromising merit for reservation is obviously tantamount to compromising efficiency in most prestigious public services like Health, Engineering and mainland administration. While High Court has listed the case filed by open merit category aspirants on December 27, the Cabinet Sub Committee formed by the Government is yet to initiate first round of consultations with stakeholders both in Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division. Interestingly the ruling National Conference is facing dissent from within the party over the issue with Srinagar Member Parliament Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi threatening to join the protests with open merit category aspirants for reversal of the reservation policy enforced by the Central Government much before the takeover by the Omar Abdullah Government in October this year.
“For the introduction of a pragmatic reservation policy the consultations with not only the stakeholders but also with experts of great reputation from medical sciences, engineering and civil services streams is both advisable and as well as an unavoidable compulsion . After all reservation policy is more a matter of securing the future of coming generations of Jammu & Kashmir and less a case of the representation of reserved categories in lucrative Government jobs and professional courses like Medical Education, Engineering and Civil Services .
Obviously the decision to leave it for the court to take a final call on reversing the reservation enforced by the Central Government would neither satisfy the stakeholders nor end the continuing statement. In fact the reservation policy is not a matter of political ego and a battle of wishes and aspirations of different classes of people but a decision that is set to change the future of J&K people not only in career building of youth but also in institutional building and infrastructural development . Experiences of decades have shown that while majority of the selectees of Open Merit Category excel in the professions they choose for building their careers and set unimaginable records in institutional building and infrastructural development, the performers among the reserved category selectees are only exceptions and their contributions very rarely bring revolutionary changes in the institutional and administrative systems of the Government. So a pragmatic reservation policy is the only way out. Worth mentioning is the fact that for the introduction of a pragmatic reservation policy the consultations with not only the stakeholders but also with experts of great reputation from medical sciences, engineering and civil services streams is both advisable and as well as an unavoidable compulsion . After all reservation policy is more a matter of securing the future of coming generations of Jammu & Kashmir and less a case of the representation of reserved categories in lucrative Government jobs and professional courses like Medical Education, Engineering and Civil Services .
Shafqat Bukhari
