Mumbai, 20 Feb

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Tuesday 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 House during the day-long special session of the legislature on Maratha quota. The bill also proposed that once the reservation comes into effect, its review could be taken after 10 years.

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange, who is sitting on a hunger strike since 10 February, had demanded that a special session be called over the issue. The government recently issued a draft notification which said if a Maratha person has documentary proof to show that he or she belongs to the agrarian Kunbi community, the person's 'sage soyre' or blood relatives too would get Kunbi caste certificates. The Kunbi community falls in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category, and Jarange has been demanding that Kunbi certificates be issued to all Marathas.

Maharashtra cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal has been opposing the "backdoor entry" of Marathas into the OBC quota, but is in favour of a separate reservation for the community.

Notably, the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission on Friday submitted a report on its survey on the social, economic, and educational backwardness of the Maratha community. The massive exercise covered nearly 2.5 crore families. One of the key findings in the bill tabled by CM Shinde underscores that the population of the Maratha community in the state is 28 per cent.

Out of the total Maratha families that are below poverty line, 21.22 per cent hold the yellow ration cards. It is higher than the state's average of 17.4 per cent.

The state government's survey undertaken between January and February this year also found that 84 per cent of the Maratha community families do not fall under the progressed category, hence they are eligible for reservation as per the Indra Sawhney case, as per the bill. Out of total farmers' suicides in Maharashtra, 94 per cent are from Maratha families, the bill noted.