news details |
|
|
| NC-Congress coalition perpetrates one more injustice on Jammu | | Grant of backward area status to 45 villages | | Rustam
Jammu, Jan 6: The other day, the National Conference (NC)-Congress coalition Government officially declared 45 villages as "Backward Areas" and entitled the people of these villages to 20 per cent reservation in Government jobs and 10 per cent in promotions. The Social Welfare Department notified 45 backward villages after the State Cabinet under Chief Minister Omar Abdullah okayed the proposal to this effect in a meeting held last month. The villages were notified as backward after amending the relevant Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules. The Congress Ministers, who repeatedly say that the coalition Government is fair and doesn't discriminate between regions in any sphere, were a party to the decision.
Sadly, the decision of the NC-Congress coalition perpetrated one injustice on the already grossly ignored and politically marginalized people of Jammu province. It declared 28 villages of Kashmir region as "backward", as against just 17 villages in Jammu province, which already had been suffering owing to the discriminatory policies being devised and ruthlessly implemented by the Kashmir-dominated and Valley-centric successive Governments in the state. As for Ladakh, it was totally ignored.
The grant of backward status to 28 villages in Kashmir and 17 villages in Jammu should once again establish that the NC-Congress coalition Government continued to accord a step-motherly treatment to Jammu but it should also indicate that it discriminates between the districts in Jammu province as well. For instance, 16 out of 17 villages, which were declared as backward, fell in the three Assembly constituencies which are represented by the Congress Ministers. Not only this, 15 out of 17 villages declared as backward in Jammu province 15 fell in only two districts of Doda and Ramban. All the four Assembly segments in these twin districts are represented by the Congress. The remain two villages fell in the Akhnoor Assembly constituency and it is again represented by a Congress Minister.
The point is that not a single village in the Assembly constituencies represented by such parties as the BJP and BJP rebels, Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) and independents candidates in Kathua and Jammu districts was granted the status of backward village. The BJP and those expelled from the party on the charge that they cross-voted during the Legislative Council elections to ensure the victory of the Congress and the NC candidates represent 11 Assembly segments, which include Bani, Basohli, Hiranagar, Suchetgarh, R.S. Pura, Jammu East, Jammu West, Nagrota, Marh, Raipur-Domana and Reasi, the JKNPP three, which include Samba, Ramnagar and Udhampur) and the independents two, including Bishnah and Kathua. Mercifully, even in the erstwhile Doda district, a special treatment was given to the Doda and Banihal Assembly constituencies. These are again represented by two Congress Ministers, Abdul Mujeed Wani (Doda) and Viqar Rasool (Banihal).
It can be said without any hesitation that the decision of the coalition Government to declare certain villages as backward areas was out and out politically motivated. It is time for all the political parties which believe in justice and equity to come on one platform and fight for the genuine cause of Jammu province which is backward and underdeveloped by any yardstick and which has more backward areas than Kashmir. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
