PDP MLA alleges Jammu-Kashmir divide in issuance of social category certificates

PDP MLA Waheed Para on Tuesday said a “sharp regional divide” in the issuance of social category certificates between the Jammu division and Kashmir Valley has been witnessed over the past two years, which exposed a “grave breach of fairness, equality, merit and administrative impartiality”. Para’s comments came over data shared by the revenue department to a question he raised in the Assembly.

In reply to his query, the government said 69,704 Scheduled Caste (SC) certificates have been issued in the Jammu region, compared to 474 in the Kashmir Valley, which equals a percentage of 99.2 per cent in Jammu and 0.67 per cent in Kashmir. It is pertinent to mention here that Kashmir is predominantly a Muslim majority region with few Dalit residents.

The minister in-charge of the revenue department said that while 5,25,778 (87.2 per cent) Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificates have been issued in Jammu, 76,656 (12.7 per cent) were issued in Kashmir. The majority of ST certificates during the past two years were issued in Rajouri and Poonch – 3,00,690 and 1,87,554 respectively. The sharp rise in issuance of ST certificates is likely due to the granting of ST status to the Pahari ethnic community of these two districts last year.

For the OBC category, 43,438 (56.6 per cent) certificates were issued in Jammu, and 33,226 (43.4 per cent) in Kashmir, the reply said. Similarly, 18,945 (88.5 per cent) certificates for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) were issued in the Jammu region, as against 2,441 (11.4 per cent) in the Valley.

Under the Resident of Backward Areas (RBA) category, 15,595 (32.9 per cent of the total) certificates were issued for people in Jammu, while 31,804 (67.1 per cent) were issued for those in Kashmir, the reply said. Under the Actual Line of Control (ALC) category, Jammu got 2,796 (85.2 per cent) certificates against Kashmir’s 484 (14.7 per cent), it said.

In a post on X, Para said the data reveals “a sharp regional divide in certificate issuance over the last two years”.

“These figures lay bare a stark regional disparity in the distribution of social category certificates, exposing a grave breach of fairness, equality, merit and administrative impartiality at the very core of J&K’s welfare framework,” the MLA from Pulwama said.

“This is precisely why we have been calling for the rationalisation of the reservation policy, strictly in proportion to the population”, he said.

Commenting on the issue, former Mayor of Srinagar MC, Junaid Azim Mattu said on X, “This is where Kashmir stands today — second-graded, humiliated and systematically subjected to an institutional discrimination. In 10 years, Kashmiris will be an endangered species not seen in colleges and public offices. The end goal of this stated and unstated (EWS?) policy is political and economic deprivation of Kashmiris”.