Omar on backfoot over OBC reservation review report

THE Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir faces growing political and community pressure ahead of the submission of the Cabinet Sub-Committee’s reservation review report, with OBC groups demanding a steep quota hike and Kashmiri leaders warning against any dilution of the Residents of Backward Areas (RBA) category.

- FAYAZ WANI @ Srinagar

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah recently confirmed that the cabinet will take up the issue of rationalising job reservations in its next meeting. “We were constrained by the fact that I did not want anybody to sabotage this by going to the Election Commission because of the (model) code of conduct. Now that the code of conduct is over, the concerned minister will present the memo in the next cabinet meeting, and we will discuss it then,” he said.

Reservations have emerged as a major flashpoint following the Centre’s expansion of reserved categories and the increase in quotas over the last five years. The Lt Governor administration’s policy before last year’s Assembly polls pushed the reserved-category share to over 60%, substantial-