Bansri Shah, Pune
The Maratha Reservation Bill was passed unanimously on Tuesday in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The bill proposes a 10% quota for the Maratha community in both education and government jobs and, once enacted, will go through a thorough review a decade after its implementation. The percentage of reservations in the state, which was at 52% before the bill was passed, has now gone up to 62%, making it stand just below Tamil Nadu, which has a 69% reservation.
Eknath Shinde said at the session, “We all are of similar views here on the Maratha reservation, so I will not make political statements here. With the cooperation of you all, we could do it. I kept my promise, which I made to the Maratha community.”
The decision was followed by a report conducted by the Maharashtra Backward Class Commission that covered 2.5 crore families in the state. The survey looked at the Maratha community of Maharashtra and looked into the economic, social, and educational problems faced by the community. The survey report showed that the Maratha community makes up a significant portion of the state’s population, at 28%. The bill aims to address, primarily, the economic struggles faced by the community. According to the survey, not only do more than 20% of the Maratha families fall below the poverty line, but also 84% don’t qualify for the ‘progressed’ category, which means that they, too, are eligible for reservations. It also shows that 94% of farmer suicides in the state include Maratha families.
The bill’s passing was instigated by the hunger strike of Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil, who began his protest on February 10. Patil has been demanding reservations for the Maratha community under the Other Backward Class (OBC) category. He wants the Maratha community to be given recognition as Kunbis, whether they have proof of being a Kunbi or not. He wants ‘Sage Soyare’ to be implemented, which basically means’ relatives from the family free’ i.e., relations either through birth or through marriage. However, the bill passed gives recognition only to those people who have Nizam-era Kunbi documentation.
“The government is giving us what we don’t want. We want a reservation in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, but they are giving us a separate quota instead. If the government doesn’t discuss and implement the draft notification on the reservation for blood relatives of Kunbi Marathas, we will decide on the course of the agitation tomorrow,” he said.