JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir administration has approved 10 per cent reservation in favour of four newly added tribes, taking the overall reservation for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Union Territory to 20 per cent, an official spokesman said. The administration has also approved the addition of 15 new castes in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and enhancement of reservation in favour of the OBCs to eight per cent, the spokesman said on Friday. In February, the Parliament passed two bills providing reservation to the OBCs in local bodies and addition of four more communities Gadda Brahmin, Koli, Paddari Tribe and Pahari Ethnic group to the list of the STs in Jammu and Kashmir. The spokesman said the administrative council which met here under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha approved the proposal of social welfare department to amend the Jammu and Kashmir reservation rules, 2005, in light of Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Act, 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 (SEBC) Commission, 2020. “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 the newly added tribes taking the overall reservation for STs to 20 per cent,” the spokesman said. In order to ensure that both already notified and now newly added tribes get benefits of reservation equally and separately, the administrative council approved an equal and separate percentage of reservation for them 10 per cent each. The administrative council also approved the addition of 15 new castes in the OBCs and enhancement of reservation in favour of the OBCs to 8 per cent, which will meet the long pending demand of the OBC category in the Union Territory, the spokesman said. He said the administrative council 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 spokesman said. He said the 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.
