“The Jammu and Kashmir administration has approved 10% reservation in favour of four newly added tribes, taking the overall reservation for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Union Territory to 20%,” an official spokesman said.

“The administration has also approved the addition of 15 new castes in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and enhancement of reservation in favour of the OBCs to 8%,” the spokesman said on March 15.

In February, the Parliament passed two Bills providing reservation to the OBCs in local bodies and addition of four more communities — Gadda Brahmin, Koli, Paddari Tribe and Pahari Ethnic group — to the list of the STs in Jammu and Kashmir.

The spokesman said the administrative council which met, in Jammu, under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha approved the proposal of Social Welfare Department to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005, in light of Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023, Constitution (Jammu & Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Act, 2024, Constitution (Jammu & Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 2024 and recommendations of Jammu and Kashmir Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Commission, 2020.

“In light of addition of four new tribes i.e. Pahari Ethnic Group, Paddari Tribe, Kolis and Gadda Brahmins, to the Scheduled Tribes Order as applicable to the J&K by the Parliament, the administrative council approved 10% reservation in favour of the newly added tribes taking the overall reservation for STs to 20%,” the spokesman said.

In order to ensure that both already notified and now newly added tribes get benefits of reservation equally and separately, the administrative council approved an equal and separate percentage of reservation for them — 10% each.

“The administrative council also approved the addition of 15 new castes in the OBCs and enhancement of reservation in favour of the OBCs to 8%, which will meet the long-pending demand of the OBC category in the Union Territory,” the spokesman said.

He said the administrative council also approved change in nomenclature and synonymy of some castes as recommended by the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC) Commission.

“Approval was also accorded to replace the term physically-challenged persons or handicapped wherever appearing in the rules with the term Persons with Disabilities in conformity with the provisions of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016,” the spokesman said.

He said the amendments shall fulfill the long-pending demands of these communities regarding their right to adequate representation in government jobs and professional courses, which they stood hitherto deprived of due to their social, educational and economic backwardness.

Jammu:

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has set up a six-member committee to identify foreign nationals who are illegally staying in the Union Territory since January 2011. 

The home department in an order stated that the committee will prepare a monthly report and submit it by the seventh day of every month to the Union home ministry.

The financial commissioner-cum-additional chief secretary of the home department will be the chairperson of the panel which was constituted in response to a November 26, 2020, communication by the home ministry, the order read.

The members of the committee include the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) of Punjab, senior superintendents of police (SSPs), the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Special Branch) of both Jammu and Srinagar, and all SSPs and SPs (Foreigners Registration Office).

In 2021, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had launched a major crackdown against illegal immigrants and detained over 270 Rohingyas from Myanmar, including 74 women and 70 children, at the sub-jail in Kathua district’s Hiranagar.

The jail was eventually turned into a holding centre for foreigners staying illegally in the Union Territory.

Rohingyas are a Bengali-dialect speaking Muslim minority in Myanmar. Following persecution in their country, many of them entered India illegally through Bangladesh and took shelter in Jammu and other parts of the country.

More than 13,700 foreigners, including Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi nationals, are settled in Jammu and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir, where their population has increased by more than 6,000 between 2008 and 2016, according to government data.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)