Minister slams Pawar for quota remark

NATIONALIST CONGRESS PARTY CHIEF SHARAD PAWAR HAD SAID RESERVATION SHOULD BE BASED ON ECONOMIC STATUS AND NOT CASTE

: Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Friday said Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has lowered his dignity by demanding that reservation should be based on economic condition and not caste.

Athawale, who was interacting with mediapersons in Chandigarh, said reservation should be on the basis of caste only if they want to end quota in the country they should first end the caste system.

He held review meetings with senior officers of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and central government departments.

He said, “We do not want to stop reservation. We want Jats and Rajputs in Haryana, Marathas in Maharashtra, the Patidar community in Rajasthan and Gujarat should get reservation up to 75% so that more people can get the benefit of this.”

He said the Centre is fully committed to protect the interests of weaker sections, specially abled and scheduled castes/scheduled tribes (SC/ STs) to ensure the completion of backlog appointments of SC/ STs through proper implementation of the reservation policy.

He said that four cases of atrocities against SCs were reported in Chandigarh from 2015 to 2018. The Haryana government has planned a rehabilitation scheme for the Dalit victims of Mirchpur (Hisar) violence, he said.

Earlier in the day, he inaugurated a three-day trade fair in Sector-34 organised by the Reserve Category and Minority Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.