The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday evening granted 10 per cent reservation in jobs to Pahari and other communities that have been declared Scheduled Tribes (STs) and also declared 15 new castes as OBCs.

An official press release issued late in the evening said that the Administrative Council (AC), which met here under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, approved the proposal of the Social Welfare Department to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005 in light of Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023 dated 15.12.2023, Constitution (Jammu & Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Act, 2024, Constitution (Jammu & Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 2024 and recommendations of Jammu and Kashmir Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission constituted vide Government Order No. 2030-JK (LD) of 2020 dated 19.03.2020.

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Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor; Atal Dulloo, Chief Secretary, J&K and Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor, attended the meeting.

In light of addition of four new tribes, i.e., Pahari Ethnic Group, Paddari Tribe, Kolis and Gadda Brahmins, to the Scheduled Tribes Order as applicable to the J&K by the Parliament, the Administrative Council approved 10 per cent reservation in favour of newly added tribes taking the overall reservation for STs to 20 per cent.

In order to ensure that both already notified and now newly added tribes get benefits of reservation equally and separately, the AC approved an equal and separate percentage of reservation for them, i.e., 10 per cent each.

The AC also approved the addition of 15 new castes in OBCs and enhancement of reservation in favour of OBCs to 8 per cent, which will meet the long pending demand of the OBC category in the UT. It also approved change in nomenclature and synonymy of some castes as recommended by the SEBC Commission.

Approval was also accorded to replace the term physically challenged persons or handicapped wherever appearing in the rules with the term Persons with Disabilities in conformity with the provisions of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

The said amendments shall fulfill the long pending demands of these communities regarding their right to adequate representation in government jobs and professional courses, which they stood hitherto deprived of, due to their social, educational and economic backwardness, the official spokesman added.