Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference president and Handwara MLA Sajad Lone has questioned why government figures show far more Economically Weaker Section (EWS) certificates issued in Jammu division than in Kashmir division. The figures, reported from an Assembly statement, show 24,058 certificates in Jammu and 2,486 in Kashmir over two years. Lone says the split raises a basic question: how does the government define poverty for EWS eligibility?
What the EWS certificate figures show
Hindustan Times reported that the Jammu and Kashmir government told the Assembly it had issued 26,544 EWS certificates across the Union Territory over two years. Of these, 24,058 were issued in Jammu division and 2,486 in Kashmir division. The Assembly figures are reported through the newspaper; they are not a direct count of poor residents or a population-adjusted measure of poverty.
Lone described the regional distribution as roughly 92:8 in Jammu’s favor. That percentage reflects the certificate counts, not the share of each division’s population that is poor or eligible. The underlying Assembly answer and full department dataset were not available in the reports cited here.
Why Lone compares certificates with ration cards
Lone’s argument contrasts EWS certificates with figures for Priority Household (PHH) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration-card counts. He cited 37.71 lakh PHH/AAY counts in Kashmir and 29.81 lakh in Jammu. From those figures, he argued that the regional distribution of poor people was about 55:45, unlike the 92:8 split in EWS certificates.
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| Measure | What it is used for | Figures cited in the dispute |
|---|---|---|
| EWS certificates | Recognition under income and asset criteria for EWS reservation | 24,058 in Jammu and 2,486 in Kashmir over two years, according to government figures reported by Hindustan Times |
| PHH/AAY ration-card counts | Food-welfare administration | 37.71 lakh in Kashmir and 29.81 lakh in Jammu, figures cited by Lone and reported by Hindustan Times and Kashmir Life |
The categories answer different administrative questions. A ration-card count is not interchangeable with an EWS certificate count, and neither by itself establishes the regional share of all people living in poverty. Lone’s 55:45 comparison is his interpretation of the ration-card figures, not an independently established poverty estimate.
What the figures imply for recruitment—and what they do not
Hindustan Times reported that 7,580 vacancies were filled over two years. Applying the 10% EWS quota to that total, Lone calculated 758 EWS posts. He said the regional allocation would be 697 for Jammu and 61 for Kashmir if the existing certificate distribution were used, compared with 341 for Jammu and 417 for Kashmir using the PHH/AAY figures as a basis.
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These are Lone’s calculations, not an independently audited breakdown of actual appointments. The figures do not establish how many EWS candidates were recruited from either division.
The Indian Express has placed the dispute within a wider debate over reservation shares. It reported that March 2024 amendments raised the share of government jobs reserved across categories from 43% to around 70%, leaving around 30% for open-merit candidates. A Cabinet sub-committee later recommended a 50:50 division, primarily by reducing the RBA and EWS allocations while leaving Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe quotas unchanged. In its report dated October 3, 2026, The Indian Express said the government was awaiting a response from Lok Bhawan.
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The same report cited 49,672 vacancies yet to be filled. Lone’s estimate of 4,967 EWS posts applies the 10% quota to that vacancy figure; his regional projections depend on whether the certificate split or PHH/AAY counts are used. They are estimates, not confirmed future appointments.
What the government says about EWS eligibility
Hindustan Times reported that the government had no proposal to relax the existing EWS criteria, including asset criteria. Minister Sakina Itoo said: “Possession of a PHH ration card, by itself, does not substitute the prescribed income and asset criteria for determination of EWS status.” In other words, a PHH card alone does not establish eligibility for EWS reservation.
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Lone objects that the asset rules may not reflect economic vulnerability in Kashmir. He said a residential house exceeding 3.68 marlas can affect EWS eligibility and argued that such a threshold does not capture poverty fairly in the region. Because the current rule text was not available in the cited reporting, that precise threshold should be treated as Lone’s description, not as a verified statement of the governing rule.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The question now is how poverty is measured
Lone framed the dispute around a consistent definition of poverty: “How does the government identify the poor? What is the definition of a poor person? We need a uniform definition of poor and poverty,” he said, as quoted by Hindustan Times.
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Kashmir Life reported that Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather directed the government to examine EWS criteria used in different states. Rather distinguished the issue Lone raised—the definition of poverty—from the separate question of the overall percentage of reservation.
Resolving the regional disparity claim would require more than comparing totals from two systems. The EWS criteria, the way certificates are issued, the populations eligible under each measure and the divisions’ population sizes all matter. The reported figures raise a question about how EWS eligibility is applied; they do not, on their own, show why the totals differ or establish which division has more poor residents.
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