Strongly condemning the reduction in reservation from 20% to 10% for residents of backward areas in govt Jobs and admissions to various courses, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh JKNPP Chairman and former Minister has charged the govt with pursuing anti rural youth policies. He said that 20% quota far candidates belonging to backward areas had been reserved in govt Jobs under the Reservation Act in view of the fact that they were deprived of educational and other allied facilities which were otherwise available in cities and towns. To ensure adequate representation to such poor, resourceless youth of remote and far-flung areas in govt sector, the said provision had been incorporated and continued by all govts in the erstwhile state of J&K, revealed Singh. He said that to give effect to the said provision, the backward areas had been identified by the govt through the Backward classes commissions on the basis of fixed criteria and norms and duly notified through issuance of an SRO on the subject. He however regretted that while the number of backward areas continued to remain the same, the reservation was reduced from 20% to 10% which was highly illogical and an affront to rural youth. He was addressing public meetings in villages Hansa, Bhugtarian and Badhole of Ramnagar constituency today.
Not only had the rural youth been divested of 10% reservation in Jobs but the earlier scheme of “rehbar-e-taleem” envisaged for rural areas had also been unjustifiably shelved by the govt, said Singh. He maintained that rehbar-e-taleem scheme had not only assured govt Jobs in education sector to the educated youth of remote areas but has been instrumental in meeting the staff deficiency in rural areas to a great extent. He said that curtailment of RBA reservation and discontinuance of rehbar-e-taleem had adversely affected the prospects of rural unemployed educated youth and sparked massive outrage amongst the rural folk.
Seeking review of the decisions to curtail reservation for RBA, Mr. Singh said that never before had the reservation for any class been reduced in such arbitrary manner. He said increase of reservation for LOC/IB from 3 to 4% and additional reservation for Paharis to 4% was understandable but reduction of the share of RBA was an ill-conceived move which could prove counterproductive in view of simmering discontent amongst the educated youth of rural areas who had voted heavily in favour of BJP.
Inviting further the attention of the govt towards the dilapidated condition of roads in Ramnagar constituency, Mr. Singh called for early repairs and renovation of Bhugtarian-Hansa road, Chanunta-PanjGrain road, Ramnagar-Badhole road and Chowki-Katwalt road. He sought immediate disbursement of pensions to old aged, widows and handicapped persons that were pending for years together. He sought early restoration of power supply in villages where supply lines had got damaged due to recent rains and snowfall.