After visiting several parts of Maharashtra and hearing grievances of around 2, 00,000 members of the Maratha community, and surveying 25,000 families over the last 15 months, the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission has concluded that the Maratha community, which forms around one-third of the state’s population is backward on three fronts – social, economic and educational and has recommended a 16 percent reservation for them as they fit all the 25 criteria of backwardness. This quota will be over and above the current 52% reservation.
The Fadnavis government will take 15 days to complete the constitutional process on the report and will submit a report in the next cabinet meeting.
Maharashtra government is likely to pass the reservation bill for Marathas in the winter session of the Assembly.
As a fallout of the agrarian crisis in the state, Marathas have been agitating since last year demanding reservation in jobs and education.
They took out 50 ‘mook morchas’ (silent marches) in 2016 and 2017 across the state demanding for reservation. The protests took a violent turn in August when the protesters attacked buses, stopped trains and blocked highways. Around 194 people were arrested by the police for rioting.
Many communities like Kapus in Andhra Pradesh, Marathas in Maharashtra, Jats in Haryana and Patidars of Gujarat demanded reservation after the agrarian crisis took a severe toll on them.
Read this news in Hindi here.