Jammu Division gets 92 per cent share in the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Kashmir gets 8 per cent. Is this justifiable?

GK Research Bureau delves deeper.

Table 1: Regional distribution of the two criteria:

EWS certificates issued

Table 2: Filled posts (last two years): 7,580 total; 758 under 10% EWS

Existing EWS criteria

PHH/AAY ration-card share

Table 3: Vacancies still to be filled: 49,672 total; 4,967 under 10% EWS

Existing EWS criteria

PHH/AAY ration-card share

Source: Sajad G Lone, MLA , J&K Legislative Assembly Intervention as reported in the press.

Sajad Gani Lone’s core argument is that the government is applying two incompatible definitions of economic weakness:

a.     One, ration-card status (Priority Households, PHH/Antyodaya Anna Yojana, AAY), for welfare transfers, including subsidised food.

b.     Two, an asset-based EWS certificate, for recruitment issued overwhelmingly in Jammu

Intuitively, both definitions will be in sync with economic weakness and the two would map similarly, not identically, the low disposable income population. However, as Lone points out with his trademark rhetorical flourish, that is not so. Applied to recruitment, the certificate rule channels almost all of the EWS quota to Jammu. Within the 70 per cent reservation pie, 10 percentage points are for EWS category. Of this Jammu gets 92 per cent of filled posts from the EWS quote, i.e. 697 out of 758. Looking ahead, with 4,967 posts coming up on the current trends 4,569 will be from Jammu Division.

This huge anomaly between population share of 56:44 in favour of Kashmir Division, getting 8 per cent share in a particular reserved segment needs to be addressed.

To understand the problem, a part of the reason is how the EWS category is constructed. The EWS certificate is an income-and-asset certificate for people outside the caste lists. Jammu, on the census figures, has a large Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe pool. Correspondingly it has a smaller general-category pool; that distinction matters for the 92:8 certificate gap. The 24,058 EWS certificates in Jammu against 2,486 in Kashmir over two years cannot be read as “Jammu has more general-category people.” The eligible pool points the other way.

The 2011 Census counted about 9.25 lakh Scheduled Castes in the then state. They are almost entirely in Jammu division. Valley districts are at less than 0.15 per cent; with Budgam at 0.05 and Baramulla at 0.15. Kathua alone was 23 per........

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