In the recently concluded Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Assembly session, Peoples Conference president and Handwara legislator Sajad Gani Lone moved a Calling Attention Motion to address the regional imbalance in the issuance of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) certificates in J&K. A Calling Attention Motion allows an MP or MLA in Parliament or state legislature to call a minister’s attention to a matter of urgent public importance and request an authoritative statement.As Lone spoke, Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather directed the government to examine the alleged imbalance. He said that while saying that no section of society should face injustice, the government should initiate corrective measures if needed.We explain the controversy over the issuance of EWS certificates, the eligibility criteria, and what puts Kashmir at a disadvantage.The controversyThe controversy over the EWS category stems from the alleged regional imbalance. Over the last two years, Jammu and Kashmir has issued 26,514 EWS certificates. Of these, 24,058 — around 91% — certificates have gone to the Jammu division while the Kashmir division has received only 2,486 certificates.Also read | Skewed Jammu, Kashmir quota data set to sharpen debateSome political leaders, especially Lone, contend that the criteria for issuance of EWS certificate goes inherently against Kashmir and call for a review of the eligibility criteria.While amending the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005, the J&K administration led by the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) on September 2, 2019, implemented 10% reservation for economically weaker sections of the society.The amended Rules said that to be categorised as EWS, the household’s total annual income should be less than Rs 8 lakh from all sources, and it should have less than 5 acres of agricultural land. It excluded anybody having a house or a residential flat of 1,000 or more square feet, a residential plot of 100 sq yards (equals 900 sq ft or 3.3 marla) or more in notified municipalities, or having a residential plot of 200 sq yards (equals 1800 sq ft or 6.6 marla) or more outside the notified municipalities.Story continues below this ad A house in Kashmir’s Neelum Valley. the nature of Kashmiri houses means that most people from the Valley are at a disadvantage when it comes to the EWS category. Photo: Wikimedia CommonsAccording to some political leaders, while J&K has a different set of economic indicators, the L-G administration replicated the Central Act in the Union Territory without considering local factors. For instance, the language used for measuring land in the amended Rules is not used in J&K’s revenue records: In J&K, land is measured in kanals, marlas, and square feet as against square yards.Why Kashmir has a disadvantage in EWS criteriaTraditionally, Kashmiris spend their entire life savings on building a house. But the nature of Kashmiri houses means that most people from the Valley are at a disadvantage when it comes to the EWS category.Lateef-uz-Zaman Deva, retired IAS officer and former chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission, said Kashmiri houses are multi-storey owing to multiple factors. “One was the climate. Because of the cold weather in winters, the Kashmiris always had two-storey houses: one to keep them warm during the winter and the second storey for summer. The second reason is that Kashmir always had a culture of privacy. So, the houses were usually fenced with a little land for a garden,” he said.Different yardsticks — and a proposed alternativeComparing the figures of the EWS and the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme for ration distribution in J&K, Lone had asked how different yardsticks could be used to determine who was poor. The AAY is a flagship scheme of the Central government to provide food security to the poorest of the poor families under the targeted public distribution system.Story continues below this adAlso read | J&K quota row may flare up as govt data reveals the big Jammu-Kashmir gapOfficial figures reveal that out of around 2,20,000 AAY ration cards, some 144,000 cards have been issued in the Kashmir division while about 75,000 were in the Jammu division.“The two measures produce sharply different pictures of poverty in Jammu and Kashmir. As per the current definition (based on EWS) of poverty, 92% of certificates issued for EWS are from the Jammu region and 8% from the Kashmir region. This almost means that 92% of poor people in J&K reside in the Jammu region and only 8% reside in the Kashmir region,” Lone said. “(But) according to this (AAY-PHH ration card holders) definition, 55% of the poor live in Kashmir and 45% in Jammu. How can the government spend crores in subsidies for the poor and then deny their poverty when they apply for a job?”Some political leaders have suggested that there is a need to correct this imbalance. They cite the example of Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, who have tweaked the Central rules to suit their state requirements. According to Lone, the government should make the AAY as an eligibility for issuance of EWS certificates.