Marathas...

MSCBC had declared it as socially and educationally backward community in its report.

However, the political influence of the community cannot be denied. Since the formation of Maharashtra in May 1960, 10 of the state’s 17 chief ministers have been Marathas.

The bill said the community will not be entitled to political reservation, which means no reservation of seats for elections in any urban and rural local bodies — village panchayats, panchayat samitis, zilla parishads, municipal councils and municipal corporations etc.

The panel made three recommendations — “a) the Maratha Class of citizens is declared as Socially and Educationally Backward Class of Citizens (SEBC) and has inadequate representation in the services under the state; b) Maratha Class of Citizens having been declared Socially and Educationally Backward Class of citizens are entitled to reservation benefits and advantages enshrined in the Article 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution of India; and c) Looking at the exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations generated on declaring Maratha Class of Citizens as Socially and Educationally Backward and their consequential entitlement to the reservation benefits, the government may take an appropriate decision within the constitutional provisions to address the emerging scenario in the state.”

The bill states that the Maratha community has suffered on account of the state not being allowed to breach the 50% reservation limit on the one hand, and tagging them along with the privileged class of citizens to face unequal competition with them on the other. The bill also states that Marathas were included in backward category before independence, and in the Intermediate Caste till 1952, when they were abruptly removed from the category.

The bill adds: “The backward class communities are already included in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) list and if abruptly asked to share their well-established entitlement of reservation with 30% Marathas, may create an extraordinary situation and unwarranted repercussions in the well set harmonious co-existence culture. Thus, reconsidering the ceiling of 50% is the only way available to resolve the exceptional circumstances.”

“Following the commission’s findings, the state government concluded that the community needs special help to advance in the contemporary period so that they can move to a stage of equality with the advanced sections of society,” Fadnavis said on Thursday.

The Maratha community has been demanding reservation for decades, and the state government was under intense pressure over the issue as community outfits had initiated statewide agitations for the last two years. According to government records, 40 persons committed suicide in protest during this period.

All political parties had already declared their support for the reservation demand, and no discussion took place on the bill, when Fadnavis tabled it in the both the houses. Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar and Peasants and Workers Party’s (PWP) Ganpatrao Deshmukh extended their support to the bill that was passed in both the houses within minutes.

Addressing a large group of protesters at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray said, “This is your victory. I congratulate the government on this decision. Today, Maharashtra celebrates but you have carried on your hunger strike in honour of the ones who died for the cause.”

State Congress president Ashok Chavan said, “The passage of the Maratha reservation Act in the state legislature is a triumph for the community.” He also said that the delay by the Bjp-led government in granting reservation forced lakhs of people from the community to come onto the streets in protest and “led to the sacrifice of 40 young people.”

Ajit Pawar said, “Some people are trying to take credit of the decision, but the fact is that opposition legislators followed the issue aggressively. We have not allowed the legislature to function for eight days in this session. We are not celebrating today, as 40 Maratha youths have sacrificed their lives for this day.”

With the state granting the quota, the Other Backward Class (OBC) community has now raised a demand to remove the Kunbi-marathas from the OBC category. “We are not immediately protesting against the Maratha quota, as the state has promised it will not impact the OBC reservation. However, our demand is that the Kunbi-marathas, who currently get benefits under the OBC category, should now be removed from this list and included in the new category for Marathas. Kunbis take as much as 8% out of the existing 19% OBC quota,” said Anil Mahajan, the president of the Maharashtra Mali Mahasangh and the OBC Kranti Morcha.

The OBC community constitutes 52% of the state’s population and gets 27% reservation. The 27% applies to OBCS and Nomadic Tribes. A section of the Marathas — the Kunbi-marathas or the community’s peasant class — is already entitled to reservation benefits under OBC category. production of agricultural increased to 223 lakh metric tonne in 2016, from 193 lakh metric tonnes in 2013, despite lower rainfall. In 2017, too, when rainfall was 84%, the production was 180 lakh metric tonne. This shows the success of the JYS. Drop in the groundwater level could not be linked with the scheme,” Fadnavissaid.

Fadnavis added that the government will soon start the cattle camps wherever required. “More and more farmers are opting for crop loans. Our government gave ₹11,417 crore as payout from 2014 to 2018, against the premium of ₹1,694 paid by government and farmers. During the Congress government, the payout was ₹1,436 crore against a premium of ₹455 crore,” the CM pointed out.