Quota review: Open merit students launch digital signature campaign

Taking a cue from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s announcement of a signature campaign for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, a group of open merit students have launched a similar campaign demanding an urgent review of the existing reservation policy.

It has been over two months since the Cabinet Sub-Committee submitted its report on reservation-related issues. The report was forwarded to the Law Department for examination, but no decision has been made so far. Open merit students say the prolonged delay is severely impacting their future prospects.

In 2024, the Union Territory administration under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha approved 10% reservation for the Pahari community, thereby increasing the overall share of reserved seats across various categories. Students from the general category argue that this change has further reduced the number of seats available to open merit candidates in government jobs.

“We launched our digital signature campaign on Sunday and have already gathered over 6,500 signatures. But our goal is 50,000 voices to make those in power pay attention,” said Sahil Parray, representing the Open Merit Students Association. “The future of our youth is at stake. This reservation policy is unjust and unfair.”

Parray told The Tribune that earlier this year, they had collected offline signatures and submitted them to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, but received no response. “He didn’t show any interest then,” he claimed.

However, after the Chief Minister recently announced a signature campaign for restoring statehood during his Independence Day address, Parray said the students were hopeful their campaign might now be taken seriously. “Since the Chief Minister has endorsed the idea of public campaigns, we believe he should also consider ours,” he added.

Another student from the open merit category said they are exploring all possible avenues to raise their concerns. “We have had an elected government for several months now. We just want our voices to be heard and this issue resolved,” the student said.

The students have two main demands: a swift decision on the reservation policy review, and public release of the Cabinet Sub-Committee report.