by Maryam Qasim
Instead of empowering individuals, the policy entrenches reliance on quotas, allowing caste divisions to persist and even deepen.
Imagine a classroom preparing for an important examination. The most diligent students, who have invested countless hours and effort, are given limited resources and little study time. Others, regardless of preparation, are granted extra time, bonus marks, and special privileges solely because of their background. The dedicated students grow frustrated and disillusioned, while those with advantages advance without effort. Outside this classroom, the West, which often upholds merit, looks on in disbelief, questioning how a system that places identity above effort can foster progress or meaningful achievement.
This reflects the situation in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, where merit is weakened by a deeply flawed reservation system. Qualified candidates face a severe job crisis. The impact is compounded by an inequitable policy that weighs heavily on open-merit applicants, further strained by bureaucracy, administrative complacency, and the absence of a strong private sector. Youth unemployment rises, fuelling frustration, anger, and mounting stress among the younger generation.
The reservation policy was intended to uplift underprivileged communities. In practice, it has created new inequalities. When benefits are extended to families whose social and economic conditions have improved, the policy loses its original purpose. Families from socially backwards categories or remote areas who migrate to urban centres may see substantial economic improvement yet continue to claim reserved benefits.
This entrenched advantage most harms general category candidates. They face intense competition for a small share of opportunities. A family that once secured a government job through reservation may later educate its children in elite institutions or abroad. On returning, those children still claim reserved benefits despite no longer being disadvantaged. Open-merit candidates, without such privileges, often struggle to secure jobs despite working hard and scoring well.
To restore fairness, reservation certificates should be valid for use only once within a family. Once a family’s socio-economic standing improves through the system, eligibility should end. This would ensure that benefits reach those in genuine need rather than becoming an inherited advantage.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the scale of the problem is stark. Young people who achieve scores above 85 per cent may remain unemployed, while others with marks as low as 60 per cent secure positions through reservation. For those without such protection, the sense of injustice is acute.
The time has come for the reservation policy in Jammu and Kashmir to be examined in depth. Such a review should be carried out constituency by constituency and district by district, with a committee established to ensure complete transparency and fairness in allocation. The present cap of 40 per cent for the general category, fixed without proportionate regard to population ratios, ought to be increased. This would promote fairness within the system and give merit a genuine chance to prevail.
In this region, the reservation policy has evolved into a clear symbol of systemic dependency. Identity-based entitlements are often prioritised over merit, weakening the principles of competence, effort, and excellence. Instead of empowering individuals, the policy entrenches reliance on quotas, allowing caste divisions to persist and even deepen. What should have been partially dismantled is preserved and reinforced by the very framework that claims to remove it.
This creates a paradox. In the name of equality, a fresh form of discrimination is institutionalised, ensuring that the so-called underprivileged remain dependent on state patronage. A measure intended as a safety net has, in practice, become a gilded cage.
True justice requires a society in which advancement is determined by ability, not sustained by perpetual assistance. There is growing concern among aspirants, political figures, and civil society from across the spectrum. The administration must now reassess and amend the reservation policy in Jammu and Kashmir. Failure to act risks trapping the region in a cycle of mediocrity, where merit is openly set aside in favour of a misguided pursuit of equality. The urgency is clear.
(The author is graduating in History from Government Degree College for Women, Baramulla. Ideas are personal.)
