Aam Aadmi Party leader Raja Shakeel on Tuesday strongly condemned the Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to reduce the Residents of Backward Areas (RBA) reservation quota from 20 percent to 7 percent, terming it a “direct attack” on the future of youth from hilly and remote regions, particularly Chenab Valley.
According to details received by The Chenab Times, Shakeel said generations of students in these areas studied in schools lacking teachers, electricity, laboratories, libraries and internet connectivity, often walking miles on treacherous roads to attend classes.
Information was available with The Chenab Times that the activist described RBA reservation as recognition of systemic deprivation rather than a privilege. “Our children studied in broken rooms, without teachers, without books, without internet—yet they survived with hope. How can the government compare them with those who had every modern facility? This is not reform. This is injustice,” Shakeel said.
He urged the Omar Abdullah-led government to immediately review the decision and first address disparities in infrastructure, education and opportunities before reducing the quota.
Shakeel emphasised that until a level playing field is created, curtailing RBA reservation will only deepen existing inequalities faced by backward communities. He called restoration of the full quota a “moral responsibility” of the administration.
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The Chenab Times News Desk
