J&K reservations issue: Open Merit Students greet Srinagar MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi over subcommittee report

A delegation of Open Merit Students' Association, Jammu & Kashmir (OMSA J&K) called on Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Srinagar constituency and president of the ruling J&K National Conference (JKNC) today, June 5, raising concerns regarding the tardy submission of the report by the Cabinet Subcommittee on the reservation policy in the union territory.

The delegation was headed by activist and association member Sahil Parray.

During the meeting, the MP reaffirmed his solidarity with the students and assured them that he would be with them if the report was not published.

To remind, students belonging to the open merit category of Jammu & Kashmir have been complaining that the state's existing reservation policy is discriminatory towards them. According to them, more than 60 per cent of seats in higher education and government jobs are reserved for communities within the state, and around 30 per cent are left for open merit.

They contend that this does not correspond to the needs of the population in the union territory since the reserved category communities and ethnic groups comprise merely about 30 per cent of its population.

They assert, therefore, that the reservation policy deprives a large majority of students and candidates of opportunities.

After strong protests in November 2024, the J&K Government, headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, declared the creation of a Cabinet Subcommittee to investigate the state's reservation policy with regard to revising it.

The panel is made up of Education Minister Sakina Itoo, Minister for Public Health Engineering Javed Rana, and Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Satish Sharma, and has been directed to give its report in six months since its establishment.

Though the panel was constituted on November 22, it was formally notified on December 10 — hence June 10 as the date for its report.

As the deadline draws nearer, the OMSA is calling on the subcommittee to file its report at the earliest.

"There are only 5 days remaining for the six-month period to expire. The youth cannot wait any longer. Thousands of worthy and deserving youth are waiting in expectation (.sic)," the association stated in a tweet posted on its official X (formerly Twitter) account.