Mumbai: The Maharashtra assembly unanimously passed the bill granting a 10 per cent quota for the Maratha community in the state on Tuesday. The quota will ensure them reservation in education and governmental jobs, PTI reported.
However, Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil reacted to the bill by saying that it was hollow and did not cover their original demand. He said that the bill was passed with the upcoming elections in mind and that the bill is a total betrayal of the community. The leader asserted that the community will not trust the BJP-backed Shinde government. The reservation won't last, and the government could lie that the reservation was passed, he lashed out.
It was on the special session of the legislative assembly that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tabled the Maharashtra State Socially and Educationally Backward Bill 2024.
According to the bill unanimously passed by the House, 28 per cent of the state's population is the Maratha community. Also, many of the castes in the state are included in the reserved category, together reaching 52 per cent. It would be completely inequitable to place the Maratha community in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, the bill said.
The bill continued that The backwardness of the Maratha class is distinct and different from backward classes and, more particularly, OBC in the sense that it is more pervasive in terms of its coverage, it differs in its penetration and further regressive in character.
The bill proposed that once the reservation comes into effect, a review could be taken after ten years.
Out of Maharashtra's existing 52 per cent reservation, the Scheduled Castes are eligible for 13 per cent, Scheduled Tribes 7 per cent, OBCs 19 per cent, Special Backward Classes 2 per cent, Vimukta Jati 3 per cent, Nomadic Tribe (B) 2.5 per cent, Nomadic Tribe (C) Dhangar 3.5 per cent and Nomadic Tribe (D) Vanjari 2 per cent.
Tabling the bill, CM Shinde said as many as 22 states in the country have crossed the 50 per cent reservation mark.
"For instance, Tamil Nadu state has 69 per cent, Haryana 67 per cent, Rajasthan 64 per cent, Bihar 69 per cent, Gujarat 59 per cent and West Bengal 55 per cent. I can mention other states as well. The purpose of the session is to help the (Maratha) community," the CM claimed.