Setting right the focal point of J&K tribal politics
The Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission has recently shared its interim report with the five associate members, the elected Members of Parliament from the erstwhile State. It has caused debate across the various regions of what is now a Union Territory (UT), with most parties expressing their reservations and disappointment. The interim report has proposed an increase of six seats in the Jammu province and one seat in the Kashmir province, though it does claim to treat the whole UT as one unit for seat distribution.
One of the salient features of the report is the proposed reservation of nine seats for Scheduled Tribes (ST). It is for the first time that seats have been reserved for the ST community in the legislative Assembly of J&K. The commission has also proposed reserving seven seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs). In the erstwhile legislative Assembly, there were also seven seats reserved for SCs, but there was no such reservation for STs.
