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| Singhal Committee report figures first time in Assembly | | Ending discrimination with Jammu | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, June 7: The 3-member committee, headed by RP Singhal, former CBSE chief, submitted its report to the Farooq Abdullah Government on January 13, 1999, but the authorities took no action on it. It was a report that debunked the Kashmiri claim that the Jammu youth and Kashmiri youth got equal treatment in terms of seats available in the state-owned medical colleges and had established on the basis of official statistics that the Jammu youth only got crumbs.
The Committee had been formed following an agreement between the Farooq Abdullah Government and the JJSF leadership, which was backed to the hilt by two Jammu University Professors (OP Sharma of Economics Department and Hari Om of History Department) and the entire civil society of Jammu. And the agreement was signed between the JJSF leadership and State Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitley in the office chamber of the then Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University, Prof RR Sharma. The agreement was signed only after Prof Hari Om approved it.
Farooq Abdullah had said: "Hats off to the Jammu University teachers who got what they wanted".
It bears recalling that in 1998, 80 per cent of seats in the medical colleges had gone to Kashmiri youth and only 20 per cent to the youth of Jammu. This gross discrimination created a sort of furore and the two University Professors, along with the JJSF leadership, unleashed a region-wide movement in February 1998. The demands were three - establishment of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University at Katra, establishment of Agriculture University at RS Pura and 50:50 share of Kashmiri and Jammu youth in the professional colleges. The important JJSF leaders were Rajinder Jamwal, Zorawar Singh, Rajesh Vidyarthi, Ajatshatru Singh, HaridutSishuand .
The movement continued for more than two months and the leaders of the movement defeated all the efforts of the political leadership to defeat the Jammu cause. In between, the Government of Farooq Abdullah, which was under tremendous pressure from below and was about to collapse, enacted two Acts under which the two Universities were established. It was perhaps for the first time that any government could concede two of the three main demands in the middle of the movement. Such was the nature and magnitude of the movement. As for the demand seeking parity between Kashmir and Jammu as far as admission to the professional colleges was concerned, the Farooq Abdullah Government and the JJSF leadership agreed to set up three-member committee to look into the whole issue and suggest ways which could end regional disparities.
The Singhal Committee dispensed justice to the Jammu youth by recommending that all the seats available in the Jammu-based professional colleges must go to the Jammu youth and all the seats in Kashmir to the Kashmiri youth. The committee, in fact, recommended that he admission to the professional colleges in Jammu province and Kashmir should be made as per the admission rules prevalent in the two regions.
It was this report that was invoked on Monday in the assembly by MLA from Kathua and it happened for the first time in 18 long years. He demanded its implementation in letter and spirit. Actually, he quoted verbatim what Jammu for India (JFI) had said on May 22, 2016 during the press conference, which was addressed by its convener Prof HariOm. A report to which effect appeared in your paper Early Times a day later.
Drawing the attention of the authorities to glaring disparities in admission to the medical and dental colleges, including the professional institutions located in Jammu and Kashmir between Jammu province and Kashmir Valley, MLA from Kathua said: "Singhal Committee recommendations are only solution to end conflict between two regions", and added that "there is general thinking among people of Jammu Province that Jammu and Kashmir Competent Authority, which has been conducting entrance test for admission to medical and engineering courses since 1987, is fundamentally Kashmir-centric and biased against them".
The MLA demanded implementation of the recommendations of the Singhal Committee. "The three-member committee, which was headed by RP Singhal, former Chairman of Central Board of Secondary Education, had in its January 13, 1999 report, candidly acknowledged that the Jammu youth never got its due share in the State's professional and technical institutions and Kashmiri youth got preferential and differential treatment. To end the regional disparity, all the seats available in the professional colleges, located in Kashmir, should be made the sole preserve of Kashmiri youth and all the seats available in the Jammu-based professional and technical colleges should be made the sole preserve of the Jammu youth. The existing practice for admission to Polytechnic courses where one Common Entrance Test is held by the Competent Authority for both the Divisions (Jammu Division and Kashmir Division), but the selection list is declared separately for the two divisions, the Competent Authority may hold one Common Entrance Test for the two divisions for Medical and Engineering courses, but the selection lists may be separately issued for the two divisions.
The seats in Jammu colleges (Medical as well as Engineering) should be earmarked for candidates belonging to Jammu region and those in Kashmir colleges be earmarked for candidates belonging to Kashmir region. A certain number of seats may be reserved in each of the University (Jammu University as well as Kashmir University) for Ladakh region in proportion to its population," he said quoting the JFI.
Now the question to be asked is: Will the BJP, which is part of the government, ensure the implementation of the Singhal Committee report? The answer seems to be no considering the manner it surrendered everything to Kashmir in March 2015. |
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