The Maharashtra legislature has unanimously passed a bill providing 10 per cent reservation for the Maratha community in education and government jobs.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tabled the Maharashtra State Socially and Educationally Backward Bill 2024 in the legislative assembly during the day-long special session of the legislature on Maratha quota.
The bill, which was passed unanimously by the house, stated that Marathas comprise 28 per cent of the total population of Maharashtra.
A substantial number of castes and groups are already placed in the reserved category, getting about 52 per cent of reservations altogether. It would be completely inequitable to place the Maratha community in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, it said.
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 said.
The Maratha quota bill also proposed that once the reservation comes into effect, its review could be taken after 10 years.
Out of the 52 per cent reservation currently existing in the state, 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.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on the bill said , “We wanted that the Maratha community should be given reservation. We have always supported it. During the meeting, it was discussed that the OBC reservation should not be touched. We had given five questions to the Vidhan Sabha chief & the CM…”
