J&K’s EWS certificates: 91% went to Jammu division; MLA seeks ration-card norms
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The news
Srinagar. Of 26,514 Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) certificates issued in Jammu and Kashmir over the last two years, 24,058 (91%) went to Jammu division and 2,486 to Kashmir, The Indian Express reports. Handwara MLA Sajad Gani Lone moved a motion on the imbalance; Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather asked the government to examine it. J&K’s 2019 rules, like the Centre’s, require income under ₹8 lakh and under 5 acres of farmland, and exclude anyone with a 1,000 sq ft house. Critics say the rules ignore local reality: land is recorded in kanals and marlas, and Kashmir’s multi-storeyed houses are measured floor by floor. Yet of about 2,20,000 Antyodaya Anna Yojana ration cards, the scheme for the poorest households, some 1,44,000 are in Kashmir and about 75,000 in Jammu. Lone wants AAY norms to decide EWS eligibility.
Prelims nuggets
- The 103rd Constitutional Amendment, 2019 inserted Articles 15(6) and 16(6), allowing up to 10% reservation for EWS not covered by SC, ST or OBC quotas.
- In Janhit Abhiyan v Union of India (2022) a five-judge Bench upheld the 103rd Amendment by 3:2.
- Antyodaya Anna Yojana households get 35 kg of foodgrains a month under the National Food Security Act, 2013.