Srinagar, Sep 30: Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather on Monday directed the Government to study the criteria adopted by different states for issuing certificates under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota.
The directive came during a discussion on a calling attention notice moved by Peoples Conference MLA Sajad Gani Lone regarding alleged discrimination against Kashmir under the EWS category.
The Speaker observed that the matter merits examination and stressed that the Government should look into the matter.
“You should look into the matter. If some states have adopted different criteria, examine why they have done so and study that,” the Speaker said.
He said that Lone was challenging the definitional clause of the EWS criteria rather than its percentage.
“What I understood from his question is that he is not saying you should keep 10 percent or 5 percent. He is saying that whatever percentage you keep, keep it. His problem lies with the definition of poverty,” the Speaker remarked.
Raising the issue in the House, Lone said data tabled in the Assembly revealed that 24,058 certificates had been issued in Jammu against 2,486 in Kashmir over the last two years.
He argued that the criteria for determining the EWS category are not binding on all States and could be reviewed or modified by the present Government in accordance with the socio‑economic conditions of the Union Territory.
Citing Government data, Lone said the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department records over 37 lakh AAY and BPL priority household ration cards in Kashmir against around 29 lakh in Jammu. “Roughly 24,000 EWS certificates had been issued in Jammu compared to about 2,400 in Kashmir, translating into nearly 92 per cent of the certificates going to Jammu and eight per cent to Kashmir,” he said.
“The per capita is the same and the social conditions are the same,” Lone told the House, while arguing that the asset criteria were at the core of the disparity.
He said a person earning below Rs 8 lakh annually could be considered economically weaker, but ownership of a house on three‑and‑a‑half marlas could make the person ineligible under the existing criteria.
He added that the criteria create a contradiction, as a person eligible for a poor‑family ration card could be considered well‑off while applying for an EWS job.
Citing replies received in the Assembly, Lone said around 7,500 recruitments had been made since the Government took office, with nearly 750 posts going to the EWS category. “Of them, 690 have gone to Jammu and 60 to Kashmir,” he said.
“If a ration‑card‑based criterion was applied, around 412 of those EWS posts would have gone to Kashmir and 337 to Jammu,” he added.
With around 40,000 recruitments pending, Lone said nearly 4,000 posts could fall under the EWS category. Of them, 320 posts would go to Kashmir and 3,680 to Jammu. “Under an AAY/BPL‑based criterion, around 2,200 such posts would go to Kashmir and 1,800 to Jammu,” he said.
Lone said the existing reservation structure already posed challenges for Kashmiri youth in the job market and that the EWS disparity further compounded the issue. He cited Kerala as an example, saying the State uses AAY and BPL ration‑card status as its EWS yardstick, and provided the Kerala EWS certificate formats to the Speaker and the concerned Minister for examination.
He further said the criteria were not constitutionally binding on the Union Territory. Referring to the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, he said States could notify economically weaker sections on the basis of family income and other indicators. “The Centre’s 2019 Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) definition could continue for central government jobs, while Jammu and Kashmir could adopt its own criteria for posts under the Union Territory,” he said.
Lone argued that a poor person is one who holds a priority household ration card or an AAY card, urging the Government to adopt one definition for both employment and food supplies. “You cannot have two definitions,” he said.
Responding to the issues raised, Social Welfare Minister Sakeena Itoo intervened and said the rules governing determination of the EWS category are prescribed by the Union Government and that States and Union Territories are required to adopt the prescribed criteria.
CPI(M) MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami also intervened, stating that the criteria prescribed for determining the EWS category are not necessarily applied uniformly across all States. He pointed out that some States have evolved their own criteria and suggested that Jammu and Kashmir could also examine practices followed elsewhere while framing an appropriate mechanism. (KNO)
