PDP demands Dogra certificate for Jammu youths

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today demanded restoration of the Dogra certificate to Jammu youths who are willing to join defense services from the region, saying that it is their "birth right".
"We demand that government should grant Dogra certificates to Jammu youths as it is their birth right", Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) and senior PDP leader, Vikramaditya Singh said today.
Union Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh yesterday had urged the J&K government to bring out a legislation for the same.
"The Dogra certificate was there for long and it helped the youths of the region to get accommodated in the defense services. But the Congress government diluted the certificate in the name of equality between the two regions, but it helped nobody," he had said here.

Vikramaditya, who is the grandson of Maharaja Hari Singh and son of senior Congress leader Karan Singh, said that issuance of the Dogra certificate would facilitate recruitment of unemployed Jammu youth in the armed forces.
"Dogras are well-known for their courtly manners, great courage and strong powers of physical endurance and these qualities in Jammu youths make them highly desirable recruits for the Armed Forces," he added.

Vikramaditya said that he fully agrees and supports the views expressed by the Minister of State (MoS) in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Jitender Singh, on his move to restore the certificate to Jammu youths.

He said that this certificate was issued primarily to Dogra youths living along the border belt in order to facilitate their recruitment in the armed forces.
It is well-known that Dogras all along the Jammu, Himachal and Punjab belt have historically proved to excel in battle, he said.
"This has been a long outstanding demand by the Dogras of Jammu," Vikramaditya said.