SCs likely to get 7 seats, STs 11 in new Assembly
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 29: In a significant step, the Central Government is reportedly mulling grant of political reservations to Paharis in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which will fulfill a long pending demand of the Pahari people as seats for them will be reserved in the Legislative Assembly as well as other political institutions.
Earlier, only Scheduled Castes had political reservations in Jammu and Kashmir which was confined to the Jammu region as they have no population in Kashmir and seven seats were reserved for them in the Legislative Assembly with eight percent reservation. However, the present Central Government, for the first time, decided to give political reservation to the Scheduled Tribes. Though exact percentage of political reservations to the STs in the Legislative Assembly hasn’t been announced, it is being anticipated that it could be around 12 percent.
Reliable sources told the Excelsior that the Government is now also considering grant of political reservation to Paharis. It is yet to be seen whether the political reservations are granted to them by giving them the status of Scheduled Tribes or directly as the Paharis.
“A decision is expected shortly,” they said.
Indications to this effect were also dropped by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his four days visit to Jammu and Kashmir. In his address to a public rally at Bhagwati Nagar here, Shah stated that the Paharis will now also sit in the Legislative Assembly and their representative too can become the Chief Minister.
Paharis enjoy four percent reservations in the Government jobs and professional educational institutions which was granted to them post abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir and conversion of erstwhile State into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. A formal announcement of reservation was made on January 30, 2020 when Girish Chandra Murmu was Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory.
Paharis have quite good number of population in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in the Jammu region and Uri, Karnah and Kupwara in the Kashmir valley besides other places of the Union Territory.
“Reservation of even two or three seats in the Legislative Assembly for the Paharis will be a big boost for them,” sources said.
They, however, said that a decision to give political reservation to the Paharis, if approved by Central and Jammu and Kashmir Governments, will have to be taken shortly as it will required to be conveyed to the Delimitation Commission which is conducting exercise of delimitation of 90 Assembly constituencies in the Union Territory.
Presently, only Scheduled Castes have eight percent political reservations in the Legislative Assembly while Scheduled Tribes and Women have reservation in all Panchayati Raj Institutions including District Development Councils (DDCs), Block Development Councils (BDCs) and Panchayats including both Sarpanch and Panch constituencies.
There have been reports that the Central Government has decided to give 12 percent political reservation to Scheduled Tribes which will come to nearly 11 seats. While population of SCs is confined to the Jammu region, the STs are spread all across Jammu and Kashmir.
Seven seats reserved for SCs in the Jammu region in the last Assembly include Chhamb, Domana and RS Pura in Jammu district, Samba, Ramban; Hiranagar in Kathua district and Chenani in Udhampur district. All the reserved seats are likely to be rotated by the Delimitation Commission.
As per the provisions, every reserved seat has to be rotated after two Assembly elections while in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, four Assembly elections have been held on the same reserved constituencies including 1996, 2002, 2008 and 2014.
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