Promoting the advancement of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), other backward class (OBC) and/or economically weaker sections is guaranteed under Article 15 (4), Article 15 (5) and Article 15 (6) of India’s Constitution. Providing them with representation and reservation in jobs is a commitment further given under Article 16 (4) and Article 16 (6). Tuesday’s announcement by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to give reservation benefits to the backward Gujjar, Bakerwal and Pahari communities of Jammu and Kashmir as per the recommendations of the Justice S C Sharma Commission cements that promise. Shah’s use of a rally in Rajouri to say that Gujjars, Bakerwals and Paharis will get their share of jobs also reflects the benefit gained by revoking controversial sections of Article 370 in 2019. Before 2019, reservation of jobs or admissions into institutions of higher learning was provided mainly on the basis of caste (social and educational backwardness), but with the 103rd Constitutional Amendment being made law in 2019, economic backwardness has also been included as a criteria to guarantee reservation. Home Minister Shah’s warning to vested interests to stop instigating against Paharis, Bakerwal and Gujjars and to deny them ST benefits is, therefore, timely and well received. Presently, about 60 percent of seats are reserved in India for ST, SC, OBC and EWS with respect to government jobs and higher education institutions, and three percent of seats are also reserved for differently-abled persons across all categories. The objective behind providing reservations in services is not only restricted to giving jobs, but also for ensuring the larger aim of empowering the socially and economically deprived to enable them to take part in the decision-making process of the state. Tuesday’s announcement by Shah reiterates that promise made by the Centre and the UT administration. In J&K, political fiefdoms are seemingly now history and development and welfare of the local people is a priority. The security situation too is far better now than what it was earlier because of the firm action taken against the terror eco-system that was once dominant in the Valley. Official statistics and data confirm that irrevocably. The State is doing its best to correct the historical injustices done by the so called “upper castes” of the past. The alienation of the “lower castes” from the socio-economic mainstream has hindered the latter’s development. The time is right, therefore, to continue with these corrective measures while taking the nation forward.
