By Faizan Ashraf

Talk of reforms often sounds cold and technical, as if people don’t exist behind the numbers.

Charts are drawn, figures cited, and decisions justified in abstract language.

On the ground, however, reality has faces.

In Jammu & Kashmir, those faces are families waking each day unsure how they will pay school fees, children juggling studies with household chores or part-time work, and parents hoping that education and public jobs will offer a way out of hardship.

For these families, life is already a daily struggle, and the government’s latest proposal makes it harder still.

The J&K Cabinet wants to cut the Economically Weaker Section or EWS quota by 7 percent and the Reserved Backward Area (RBA) quota by 3 percent, while increasing Open Merit seats by 10 percent.

It may seem like a small change, but it closes doors for the poorest families and adds more uncertainty to lives that are already........

© Kashmir Observer