Last Updated on October 30, 2021 at 1:44 pm
In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir the demand of Pahari people for the seats for them to be reserved in the Legislative Assembly as well as other political institutions, central government is considering this and mulling the grant of political reservations to Paharis, reportedly.
Previously, Scheduled Castes had political reservations but only confined to Jammu as they had no population in Kashmir and seven seats were reserved for them in the Legislative Assembly with eight percent reservation.
Now, political reservations for Scheduled tribes are being considered. Till now there is no final confirmation on the percentage of political reservations to the STs in the Legislative Assembly but it is being anticipated that it could be around 12 percent.
As per reports, political reservations for Paharis is taken into consideration but whether the political reservations are granted to them by giving them the status of Scheduled Tribes or directly as the Paharis is yet not known.
During the recent visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a public rally at Bhagwati Nagar here, Shah said that the Paharis will now also sit in the Legislative Assembly and their representative too can become the Chief Minister.
It is pertinent to mention that after abrogation of special status and conversion of erstwhile State into two Union Territories of J&K and Latah, Paharis got four percent reservations in the government jobs and professional educational institutions.
Paharis are mainly large in number of population in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in the Jammu region and Uri, Karnah and Kupwara in the Kashmir valley besides other places of the Union Territory.
Presently, only Scheduled Castes have eight percent political reservations in the Legislative Assembly while Scheduled Tribes and Women have reservation in all Panchayati Raj Institutions including District Development Councils (DDCs), Block Development Councils (BDCs) and Panchayats including both Sarpanch and Panch constituencies.
