In Jammu and Kashmir, there are people of different classes, religions, castes, and the measures taken by the government regarding construction and development are yielding fruitful results. There is a large section of which until a few years ago had no name or recognition except as a backward class. However, when anyone takes a look at the ground level today, it is clear that the ST community in Jammu and Kashmir is advancing in every field, be it political, social, academic or economic.
Politics: The Scheduled Tribes of Jammu and Kashmir have been demanding political reservation for many decades to remove the backwardness of this section.
Muhammad Yasin Piswal, a well-known social worker and General Secretary of the “Jammu and Kashmir Gujar Bakarwal Conference”, said that after many years, the incumbent central government has implemented our long standing demand. Paswal believes that political reservation will help in removing the backwardness of this class. However, he also has grievances and grievances in this regard, which he hopes the government will address their grievances.
“We are grateful to the Central government for accepting this long-standing demand, but we request that it be implemented in every area as per the aspirations of the people, where it really matters.”
The government has announced to solve them but here in Jammu and Kashmir they are not solved completely due to which the full benefits of the government schemes are not reaching the common people for which steps need to be taken.
Education: Education is a weapon with the help of which a person can win any war of the world. However, in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the Kashmir Valley, this section was quite backward in this field due to many reasons.
A revolutionary initiative in the field of education, in which basic facilities in every area as well as high schools, higher secondary and colleges have been established in the nearby areas, with the help of which the children of this class can be educated at all levels.
The population of Tral Jahan in Pulwama District, the most Gujjar populated area of South Kashmir, is approximately 20,000 and a few years ago there were only five male and female students studying in the college.
Most of the children in which male and female students are studying while in Kashmir University, which is famous for standard education, many students are currently doing post graduation or other degrees in various subjects, while some youths have also passed NET, JRF, University.
A former student of ST said that earlier accommodation used to be a big problem and facilities of ST hostel were provided only to influential students.
But Bakarwal children are now easily getting higher education by taking advantage of these facilities here at ST Hostel.
Scheduled Tribe Scholarship: Jammu and Kashmir and the Centre used to spend a huge amount of money for scholarships for ST children for decades, but according to Gujjar Bakarwal community, the reason for providing this scholarship in offline mode.
There were big scams in it. However, due to digital facilities, this scholarship is now provided in online mode and all the deserving children get the stipend easily.
The government is paying 90 per cent for the training of commercial pilots while aspirants are having to pay only 10 per cent of the cost. However, apart from this, no special information has been provided to ST children regarding various better schemes.
Forest Right Act: The Forest Right Act was implemented in the country in 2006, along with which the section of Jammu and Kashmir was continuously demanding to implement this Act until 2019, but the previous government failed to implement this law here. However, after the ratification of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has accepted the long-standing demand of the ST community. However, this act is not being fully implemented here, due to which the people are deprived of the full benefits.
Social change: In Jammu and Kashmir, whenever a common person went to an ST area, it was known from two things that there are Gujjars (ST) in which especially Gujjar Bakarwal people live. Because most of the people here lived in mud huts or the people were deprived of basic facilities due to the absence of connecting roads. However, since the last many years there has been a complete social change in the community where people have been provided with houses through various government schemes while connecting roads have been laid, people have started to work, education and government jobs in a large way. People are doing, due to which large-scale social change is being seen in the Gujjar Bakarwal community, however, there is room for more work in a few areas which needs attention.