A four-member panel of the Social Justice Committee has suggested the UP government that Yadavs and Kurmis in UP should be given only 7% reservation under OBC (the total quota for OBC is 27%).
The committee was set up the BJP-led UP government for categorizing various sub-castes within OBC.
The report released by the committee which categorized OBCs into 79 sub-castes mentioned that both Yadavs and Kurmis are not only culturally but also economically and politically influential. While Yadavs form the vote bank of Samajwadi Party, Kurmis are the vote base of Apna Dal, a BJP ally.
The report will be put forward in the winter session of the UP Assembly by Backward Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar. The session is slated to start from Tuesday.
Rajbhar has reportedly threatened to launch a mass agitation on December 24 if the recommendations by the committee are not implemented before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The other key takeaways from the report are—
- The committee proposed that the most backward castes in UP like Rajbhar, Ghosi, and Qureshi (among the Muslim community) should be given 9% reservation. The peopled from these castes are mostly either engaged in class III or class IV category jobs or are unemployed.
- The report claimed that some of the sub-castes falling under OBCs have improved socially, economically and educationally with the help of reservation.
- Also, some of the Most Backward Castes like Lodhs, Kushwahas, and Telis have got the most reservation of 11%.