Rajasthan govt to issue circular mandating 1% quota to Gujjars, four other MBC communities today

The Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in Rajasthan gave an assurance to Gujjar leaders on Sunday that it would release a circular mandating one percent reservation to five communities under the most backward classes (MBC) category by 5 pm on Monday.

The government’s assurance came after Gujjar leaders threatened to stage a protest during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Jaipur on 7 July, The Times of India reported.

The BJP government had announced that the reservation for MBCs – comprising Gujjars, along with nomadic communities Banjara, Gadia-Lohar, Raika and Gadariya – will be within the 50 percent ceiling mandated by the Supreme Court. The Cabinet had approved the decision in December 2017 and sent it for the Governor’s consent. It could be brought into law on Monday.

According to a report in The Hindu , the overall reservation in the State stood at 49 percent before the decision. The MBCs were included among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for quota in the government jobs and educational institutions.

Though Gujjars had been demanding sub-categorisation of OBC quota for extending the benefit to them, the state government had gone ahead with its decision to create MBC and announced the quota while not exceeding the 50 percent limit, the report said.

A Gujjar delegation, led by leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, had met with Rajasthan Social Justice Minister Arun Chaturvedi on Friday over their demands, including reservation for members of the community.

The meeting was held to review the progress in the agreement they had signed with the state government last month over their various demands, including five percent reservation.

Bainsla alleged that slow progress had been made by the state government and said it should show seriousness to execute the agreement to fulfil the demands of the community.

Spokesperson of the Gurjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, Himmat Singh, said that the discussion in the meeting was related to the progress of the government’s assurances to look into their demand in a time-bound manner.

The main demand of the Gujjars is for a five percent reservation within the OBC quota. This demand, however, was not met as the government only agreed to grant one percent reservation – to be facilitated using shadow posts.

The government had also assured the Gujjars that all criminal cases filed against the community members during their agitation would be withdrawn.

In October last year, the Rajasthan Assembly had passed a Bill to raise the reservation for other backward classes (OBCs) from 21 percent to 26 percent, with a voice vote.

The Bill raised reservation for Gujjars and four other backward communities in Rajasthan from 21 percent to 26 percent.

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Arun Chaturvedi had introduced the Bill in the House proposing that when the central government provided reservation to backward classes in 1993, the proportion of the population of backward classes at the national level was about 52 percent and the reservation was provided 27 percent.

He said that as the population of backward classes in Rajasthan is estimated by the State Backward Classes Commission to be about 52 percent, the percentage of reservation for backward classes needs to be increased.

Then in November, the Supreme Court set aside Rajasthan High Court’s order, accepting the Rajasthan government submission seeking an increase in reservation quota for OBCs and said that a court cannot stop a legislative process. The apex court also clarified that the state will not cross 50 percent of reservation until the writ petition is decided by the high court.

With inputs from agencies.