News Analysis India

Tag: Pahari community

  • Paharis to get reservation, but no cut in quota of Gujjars, Bakerwals: Manoj Sinha

    Express News Service

    SRINAGAR: Amid the ongoing 500-km-long foot march by Gujjar and Bakerwals in Jammu and Kashmir to oppose inclusion of Paharis or other elite castes in the ST reservation status, J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday said Pahari community would get reservation but there would be no cut or decrease in quota of Gujjars and Bakerwals.

    “Home Minister Amit Shah during his recent address to public rallies in Rajouri andBaramulla had made it clear that Paharis will get reservation in ST category soon but there will be no cut in reservation quota of Gujjars and Bakerwals,” Lt Governor Sinha said, while addressing a Janjatiya Samagam on the launch of week-long festivities on Janjatiya Gaurav Divas in Jammu on Tuesday. 

    He said, “Paharis will also get the reservation but there would be no tampering with the reservation of Gujjar and Bakerwal community.”

    “I urge those undertaking Padyatra (foot march) to return home. Some people with vested interest are spreading rumours on reservation. They are the same people who do not want peace and progress in the region,” said Sinha. 

    The Gujjar and Bakerwal are on a 500-km-long foot march called ‘Tribals Bachao March’ in J&K for protection of their identity and rights under the Scheduled Tribe status and oppose inclusion of Pahari community or any other elite castes in the ST status. The Save Tribals march is being carried out under the banner of recently formed united front Gujjar Bakerwal Joint Action Committee (GBJAC). The foot march started from the border district of Kupwara in Kashmir on November 4. It will travel through all 20 districts of J&K and culminate in Kathua district of Jammu region.

    The Gujjar and Bakerwal community enjoys 10% reservation in education and government employment in J&K. Besides, nine Assembly seats in J&K have also been reserved for the community by the Delimitation Commission. “Through this foot march, we want to protect our identity and rights under the ST status. We are opposing the granting of ST status to the Pahari community or any upper caste of J&K,” said Gujjar activist Guftar Ahmad.

    He said the Pahari community is not eligible for ST status as the status is not being granted on the basis of language. The Gujjar and Bakerwal community feels that declaring Paharis and other upper caste communities as STs would be injustice with the tribal population and it will deprive them of their rights in education and jobs. 

    SRINAGAR: Amid the ongoing 500-km-long foot march by Gujjar and Bakerwals in Jammu and Kashmir to oppose inclusion of Paharis or other elite castes in the ST reservation status, J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday said Pahari community would get reservation but there would be no cut or decrease in quota of Gujjars and Bakerwals.

    “Home Minister Amit Shah during his recent address to public rallies in Rajouri andBaramulla had made it clear that Paharis will get reservation in ST category soon but there will be no cut in reservation quota of Gujjars and Bakerwals,” Lt Governor Sinha said, while addressing a Janjatiya Samagam on the launch of week-long festivities on Janjatiya Gaurav Divas in Jammu on Tuesday. 

    He said, “Paharis will also get the reservation but there would be no tampering with the reservation of Gujjar and Bakerwal community.”

    “I urge those undertaking Padyatra (foot march) to return home. Some people with vested interest are spreading rumours on reservation. They are the same people who do not want peace and progress in the region,” said Sinha. 

    The Gujjar and Bakerwal are on a 500-km-long foot march called ‘Tribals Bachao March’ in J&K for protection of their identity and rights under the Scheduled Tribe status and oppose inclusion of Pahari community or any other elite castes in the ST status. The Save Tribals march is being carried out under the banner of recently formed united front Gujjar Bakerwal Joint Action Committee (GBJAC). The foot march started from the border district of Kupwara in Kashmir on November 4. It will travel through all 20 districts of J&K and culminate in Kathua district of Jammu region.

    The Gujjar and Bakerwal community enjoys 10% reservation in education and government employment in J&K. Besides, nine Assembly seats in J&K have also been reserved for the community by the Delimitation Commission. “Through this foot march, we want to protect our identity and rights under the ST status. We are opposing the granting of ST status to the Pahari community or any upper caste of J&K,” said Gujjar activist Guftar Ahmad.

    He said the Pahari community is not eligible for ST status as the status is not being granted on the basis of language. The Gujjar and Bakerwal community feels that declaring Paharis and other upper caste communities as STs would be injustice with the tribal population and it will deprive them of their rights in education and jobs.
     

  • Gujjars, Bakerwals join hands to oppose ST status to Paharis in J&K

    Express News Service

    SRINAGAR:  With Home Minister Amit Shah announcing early this month that Pahari community in J&K would get ST reservation soon, the Gujjar and Bakerwal community leaders, who are opposing it, have formed a united front Gujjar Bakerwal Joint Action Committee (GBJAC) to fight for the rights of tribal and oppose any move of granting ST reservation to Paharis or any other creamy layers of the society. GBJAC chief spokesman Talib Hussain said various Gujjar and Bakerwal groups and student bodies have joined hands and formed the GBJAC to fight for their rights. The new united front would be led by Haji Mohammad Yousaf.

    Gujjar and Bakerwals with a population of over 2 million, he said, were notified as Schedule Tribe in the erstwhile J&K state in 1991 after a struggle of four decades. Opposing any move to grant ST status to the Pahari community, he said, “The ST status cannot be granted on the basis of language. It is granted on the basis of social stigma and backwardness.”

    The Paharis, he said, aren’t defined as an ethnic community by any sociological or anthropological research study. “Paharis are a group of different religious communities and castes within religions that came together for a common demand of ST status.”

    He said the GBJAC will strongly oppose any move to grant ST status to the creamy layers of the society.  “According to the Indian constitution, ST is equal to SC and today you are equating Brahims with the SCs.  Those who were landlords, tax collectors and rulers who proudly identified themselves as Rajas, use titles like Sardar and Raja are claiming to be socially isolated and stigmatized.

    Brahmins, who held the highest offices, controlled the economy and dwell in towns also complain of social discrimination. How on earth can they and other creamy layers of society be at par with Gujjar-Bakerwal people, who reside mostly on mountainous terrains and jungles sans basic amenities of life,” Talib said.

    Asserting that a group of religions with a complex caste structure cannot be designated as a tribe, he said it would be a historic blunder if upper castes are granted the ST status. 

    Last Pandit woman living in Shopian village leavesAs the administration tried to play down the latest ‘exodus’ of Kashmiri Pandits from Shopian village, the last Pandit woman living in the Choudhari Gund village in south Kashmir district also left for Jammu on Friday and with her leaving, all the 10 Pandit families, who had not migrated in 1990, in the hamlet have left the Valley, a Kashmiri Pandit group said. Kashmir Pandit Sangarsh Samiti president Sanjay Tickoo said that 55-year-old woman left Kashmir for Jammu today.  

    SRINAGAR:  With Home Minister Amit Shah announcing early this month that Pahari community in J&K would get ST reservation soon, the Gujjar and Bakerwal community leaders, who are opposing it, have formed a united front Gujjar Bakerwal Joint Action Committee (GBJAC) to fight for the rights of tribal and oppose any move of granting ST reservation to Paharis or any other creamy layers of the society. GBJAC chief spokesman Talib Hussain said various Gujjar and Bakerwal groups and student bodies have joined hands and formed the GBJAC to fight for their rights. The new united front would be led by Haji Mohammad Yousaf.

    Gujjar and Bakerwals with a population of over 2 million, he said, were notified as Schedule Tribe in the erstwhile J&K state in 1991 after a struggle of four decades. Opposing any move to grant ST status to the Pahari community, he said, “The ST status cannot be granted on the basis of language. It is granted on the basis of social stigma and backwardness.”

    The Paharis, he said, aren’t defined as an ethnic community by any sociological or anthropological research study. “Paharis are a group of different religious communities and castes within religions that came together for a common demand of ST status.”

    He said the GBJAC will strongly oppose any move to grant ST status to the creamy layers of the society.  “According to the Indian constitution, ST is equal to SC and today you are equating Brahims with the SCs.  Those who were landlords, tax collectors and rulers who proudly identified themselves as Rajas, use titles like Sardar and Raja are claiming to be socially isolated and stigmatized.

    Brahmins, who held the highest offices, controlled the economy and dwell in towns also complain of social discrimination. How on earth can they and other creamy layers of society be at par with Gujjar-Bakerwal people, who reside mostly on mountainous terrains and jungles sans basic amenities of life,” Talib said.

    Asserting that a group of religions with a complex caste structure cannot be designated as a tribe, he said it would be a historic blunder if upper castes are granted the ST status. 

    Last Pandit woman living in Shopian village leaves
    As the administration tried to play down the latest ‘exodus’ of Kashmiri Pandits from Shopian village, the last Pandit woman living in the Choudhari Gund village in south Kashmir district also left for Jammu on Friday and with her leaving, all the 10 Pandit families, who had not migrated in 1990, in the hamlet have left the Valley, a Kashmiri Pandit group said. Kashmir Pandit Sangarsh Samiti president Sanjay Tickoo said that 55-year-old woman left Kashmir for Jammu today.