TELANGANA HIKES MUSLIM QUOTA
HYDERABAD: Telangana on Sunday passed a Bill to hike the reservation quota for backward Muslims and Scheduled Tribes to 12 and 10% respectively.
With all the five BJP members suspended for the day, the Telangana Assembly on Sunday unanimously passed a bill to hike the reservation quota for backward Muslims and the Scheduled Tribes (ST) to 12 and 10% respectively.
Barring the BJP, which vehemently opposed the Bill both inside and outside of the Assembly, the entire Opposition supported the Backward Class, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Reservation Bill, 2017.
As soon as the day-long special session of the legislature began, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao moved the Bill to raise from the existing 4% to 12% the quota for the socially and economically backward among the Muslims under the Backward Classes (E) category.
The reservations for the Scheduled Tribes in educational institutions and government jobs has been increased from 6% to 10%.
After the state legislative council passes it by late Sunday evening, the bill will be sent for the President's assent with a request to include it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu.
Replying to debate on the bill, Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao said if the Centre refuses to accept Telengana's request, the state would approach the Supreme Court. Rao said, “Tamil Nadu is implementing 69% reservations for over two decades. Five to six states are providing more than 50% reservation. How can you deny this to Telangana?”
The Supreme Court has put a cap of 50% on all reservations both a the Centre and in the states.
The Chief Minister clarified that the reservations were being provided purely on the basis of socio-economic backwardness and not on the basis of religion or caste as some parties were project before the people.
Terming it as a historic day, Rao said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had during the election campaigns promised that quota for the Backward Classes (E) and the Scheduled Tribes will be increased in proportion to their population in the state.
He assured the Backward Classes that there will be no injustice to them because of increase in quota for the BC (E) and announced that the quota for the BCs too will be increased. The state government has directed the Backward Classes Commission to submit a report within six months.
Meanwhile, Rao hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that more inclusiveness is needed for those who are backward among the Muslim community and hoped that this will pave the way for increasing the reservations for Muslims in the state.
“It augurs well,” said Rao about Modi’s remark which he made while intervening during a discussion on the Backward Commission at the BJP’s National Executive meeting at Bhubaneswar.
Speaking in the Telangana Legislative Council while introducing a bill to increase reservations for Muslims from four percent to 12 percent, KCR, as Rao is popularly known, referred to the PM’s statement while stressing the need to provide quota to socially and economically backward among Muslims.
“If this statement of the PM had come earlier, perhaps the BJP members would not have got suspended,” remarked KCR referring to suspension of all five Bharatiya Janata Party members from the Assembly for disrupting the proceedings to protest hike in quota for Muslims.