Share your story and shine at JK Monitor!🌟 Welcome to JK Monitor, where every story matters and every achievement is celebrated! We invite you to share the remarkable journey of your life and showcase your accomplishments to the world. Join our exclusive interviews that honor exceptional individuals just like you. JAMMU: The exclusion of eligible and deserving candidates from the Displaced Kashmiri Pandit community from applying for posts of Anganwadi Workers (Sangini) and Helpers (Sahayika) has caused deep concern and distress. The issue has been strongly raised by Girdhari Lal Raina, former Member of the Legislative Council and spokesperson of BJP, Jammu & Kashmir–UT, in a communication addressed to the Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Annapurna Devi.
Drawing the attention of the Minister to the recruitment notifications recently issued by the concerned authorities in Jammu & Kashmir for engagement of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers across various districts, Raina expressed serious disappointment that a highly deserving and eligible section of society has been effectively excluded from the recruitment process through no fault of their own.
This excluded section comprises women belonging to the Displaced Kashmiri Pandit community, who were forcibly driven out of their homes in the Kashmir Valley during the tragic events of 1989–90. These families are duly registered as Kashmiri Migrants with the Office of the Relief Commissioner, Jammu & Kashmir, and are presently residing in Jammu and other parts of the country under circumstances beyond their control, Raina asserted.
He further pointed out that despite their displacement, the Government continues to treat them as ordinary residents of their native places in the Kashmir Valley. Even the Election Commission of India acknowledges this reality and makes special arrangements to enable their participation in elections from their present places of residence.
Regrettably, the Women and Child Development Department (WCD) has overlooked this well-established position. By insisting on physical residence and ward-level registration at the place of current stay, eligible women from the Displaced community have been rendered ineligible to apply. This has occurred even in cases where Anganwadi Centres are functioning within temporary migrant camps established by the Government specifically for these displaced families.
Raina emphasised that this exclusion amounts to a grave injustice and defeats the very objective of welfare-oriented schemes aimed at empowering women and supporting vulnerable sections of society. Denying displaced women the opportunity to apply for posts within their own migrant camps is both unreasonable and discriminatory, he said.
In view of these facts, G.L. Raina sought the personal intervention of the Union Minister to address the anomaly. He suggested that a simple, fair, and equitable solution would be to permit eligible women from the Displaced Kashmiri Pandit community to apply—at least for Anganwadi Centres functioning in migrant camps—on the basis of a valid migrant registration certificate issued by the Relief Commissioner, Jammu.
He expressed hope that this genuine grievance would receive sympathetic consideration and that immediate corrective measures would be initiated to uphold justice and inclusivity in the recruitment process.
