Amid growing uproar against Jammu and Kashmir's reservation policy, the Union Territory's administration has formed a three-member cabinet subcommittee to review the concerns of the youth regarding the rules.

As per a notice issued by the National Conference-led J&K government today, Tuesday, December 10, the subcommittee constitutes of Education Minister Sakina Masood Itto, Javed Rana (Minister for Public Health Engineering) and Satish Sharma (Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs).

The formal order regarding the constitution of the subcommittee was issued nearly 18 days after the cabinet approved it.

The students and job seekers from the J&K region have been raising concerns regarding the new reservation rules that came into place this year in March. The new amendments significantly reduced the number of seats for open merit (unreserved) category candidates to 30 per cent, despite them comprising more than 70 per cent of the population.

Now, while the UT administration has officially constituted a subcommittee to look into the grievances, the students are still not satisfied.

Mir Zubair Nabi, a graduate of Jamia Milia Islamia (JMI) and a Civil Services aspirant from J&K, said, “Out of the three members in the subcommittee, not one belongs from unreserved category from the Kashmir mainland. Moreover, the committee is not timebound. The government has not specified any deadline for the committee to submit its report.”

The students and job seekers are demanding a comprehensive review and revision of the reservation rules in proportion to the state’s population demographic. They have demanded up to 70 per cent reservation for the open merit category.

On Saturday, December 14, the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) will be holding a protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar seeking these changes in the reservation policy.