Overview
- The Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board issued a June 9 notification designating Urdu as a compulsory subject for 75 Naib Tehsildar vacancies.
- Leader of the Opposition Sunil Sharma and BJP president Sat Sharma met Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha on June 12 to urge that Urdu proficiency be made optional.
- Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and ABVP activists held protests across Jammu, with BJP MLA Vikram Randhawa calling the requirement a conspiracy to block local youth from government jobs.
- Critics in Kashmir have shifted focus to the recruitment’s reservation policy, noting that 45 of the 75 posts are reserved and only 30 are open to general category candidates.
- A 2022 decision to drop mandatory Urdu testing had disappointed the J&K Urdu Coordination Committee’s Kashmir wing and underscored ongoing regional language tensions.