Scrap quota policy, says Waheed Para
Senior PDP leader and MLA Pulwama Waheed Para on Wednesday called for scrapping of reservation policy in Jammu and Kashmir.
This year, the government granted 10 per cent reservation to the Pahari community in the UT, taking the reserved quota for different categories to 60 per cent, leaving only 40 per cent for the general population. This means that the general category students can now only compete for 40 per cent of the jobs and college seats. According to the 2011 Census, around 69 per cent of J&K’s population belongs to the general category.
Para was reacting to the result announced for the prestigious J&K Combined Competitive Examination-2023, which was announced late on Tuesday night. He said the results revealed only “40 per cent open merit selections, despite over 70 of the population.”
“The government must scrap this unjust policy against merit and ensure reservations reflects true population proportions. The J&K’s youth deserves inclusion, not exclusion. This isn’t limited to jobs but compromising long-term quality and competence in all institutions,” he said on X.
Former Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu also reacted to the results. “Another day, another genocide of open merit in J&K — despite poll promises by the JKNC to review reservation. Only 29 out of 71 successful candidates in this J&K Combined Competitive Examination-2023 belong to the open merit category,” he wrote on X. “A cruel joke with our youth!”
Recently, several advertisements have come to fore, where it was found that less seats for open merit candidates.
