Banihal, Oct 20: A large number of educated unemployed youth in Banihal staged a protest to express their resentment against “reports of possible alterations to the Backward Area (RBA) quota by the Jammu and Kashmir government.”
Notably, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has already refuted these reports vis-à-vis any curtailment in RBA quota.
The demonstrators demanded that the authorities first conduct a thorough ground-level assessment of areas classified under the RBA category before making any decision.
Protesters — drawn largely from economically and socially backward areas — warned that any reduction or removal of the RBA quota would adversely impact the prospects of thousands of youth, currently relying on the reservation for educational and employment relief.
They said the quota provided a measure of support to communities that continue to lag behind in development indicators.
Advocate Mubasher Ahmad Naik, a youth leader from Banihal, told reporters that thousands of educated unemployed youth from the hilly districts of both Jammu and Kashmir regions would not accept any cut to the RBA quota.
“Any tinkering with the RBA category is unacceptable. If the government proceeds, we will launch large-scale protest demonstrations,” he said.
Naik emphasized that many areas in the Chenab Valley and other hill regions suffered persistent underdevelopment.
“Government schools in these mountain areas lack basic facilities. In such a situation, altering this special concession would tantamount to destroying the future of thousands of youth and coming generations,” he said.
The protesters alleged that the RBA quota was already reduced over the years — from 27 percent to 20 percent, and then down to 10 percent in 2020.
The demonstrators urged the government to review the RBA classification using scientific data and census findings, and not to take any decision until a proper socio-economic survey was completed.
They warned that without such due diligence, the proposed changes would deepen existing inequalities and provoke wider unrest.
