Srinagar, Oct. 2 -- People's Conference president Sajad Lone has questioned the criteria used to identify economically weaker sections (EWS) in Jammu and Kashmir, citing regional disparity in issuing of EWS certificates.

On Wednesday, the last day of the autumn session, the government had told the House that 26,544 EWS certificates have been issued across the UT in the past two years - 2,486 in Kashmir division and 24,058 in Jammu division.

"How does the government identify the poor? What is the definition of a poor person? We need a uniform definition of poor and poverty," Lone said in a post on X.

Lone cited ration-card data to question the disparity, saying Kashmir had 37.71 lakh Priority Household (PHH) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (A...