KAS selections give rise to controversy

Is it a political ploy or the grudge of certain disgruntled elements that the declaration of the KAS (Kashmir Administrative Service) aspirants has once again displeased the residents of Kashmir and Jammu?

FOR THE UNINITIATED the declaration of KAS results by the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission, which is still subject to a Supreme Court order has come under criticism in the Kashmir valley over the dominance of Jammu based candidates in this examination. It seems that certain disgruntled political elements and intelligentsia with Kashmir based mindset want to see the Kashmir Administrative Services to be the domain of Kashmiris and that too the ones residing in Srinagar city. Voices are being raised that the overwhelming success of the Jammuites will one day lead to the erosion and complete absence of Kashmiri Muslims in the state bureaucracy. Instead of introspection as to why year after year the valley based students are failing to make it to the Kashmir administrative services and even the Union Public services exams, there is growing tendency to look at the issue with myopic glasses. Some Kashmir based analysts and intellectuals argue that since 70 per cent population of Jammu and Kashmir is Muslim then the ratio of successful candidates should also represent this communal ratio of 70:30. These arguments have been put forth in Kashmir valley after every KAS result which has been declared by the PSC, as invariably the Jammuites have dominated the civil services in the state and the center. What they have failed to read in these results time and again is the fact that people of Jammu are more serious towards entering the civil services as compared to the others. They are putting in more efforts and resources to get into the KAS and other elite services and Jammu has better coaching centers. One of the candidates for KAS, Ajay Sharma, said that Jammu has better coaching facilities and even the Kashmiri students come here for coaching. Interpretation of the result in terms of entry of Hindus, Muslims and Kashmiris and non-Kashmiris invariably leads to the conclusion that Kashmiri intelligentsia wants to dominate the civil services, polity and economy of the state. Instead of working hard and earning the jobs through the sweat of the brow, like the Jammu based candidates have done irrespective of the fact, whether they were Hindus or Muslims, the Kashmiris have again started complaining about the results. An analysis of the result reveals that 62 Muslims out of 132 candidates have made the KAS grade and it amounts to almost half of the selection list. A noted educationist of Jammu said that while Jammu based candidates dominate in KAS, NDA, CDSE and similar exams, the Kashmiris top the list in Medical and engineering courses. Here it must also be mentioned that Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission is headed by an eminent Kashmiri bureaucrat and the Controller of Examination is also a bureaucrat with strong connections with Kashmir. Mohd Shahid, an aspirant to the KAS, who could not qualify in the prelims examinations in 2005, said that JKPSC did everything in its hand to help the candidates from Kashmir and a number of irregularities were committed as a result of which the matter is still subjudice in Supreme Court.