Rajasthan govt to raise OBC quota to appease Gujjars

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The Rajasthan government will raise the other backward class (OBC) quota from the present 21 per cent to 26 per cent for granting 5 per cent reservation to Gujjars and other castes.

A bill to this effect will be introduced in the upcoming Monsoon session for which a consensus arrived at last night at a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee with the Gujjar delegation.

The government has assured the Gujjar leaders that the OBC quota will be split after increasing it to 26 per cent to grant them 5 per cent reservation.

The total reservation in the state stands at 49 per cent at present and this is set to once again crossed the 50 per cent legal ceiling.

"The decision to increase the OBC quota from 21 to 26 per cent was taken after rounds of talks last night. A division will be created within the revised OBC quota for providing five per cent reservation to Gujjars and other communities," Social Justice Minister Arun Chaturvedi told PTI today.

He said the division may be like 'backward' and 'most backward' or 'category A' or 'category B'.

As for the legal ceiling, the minister said legal experts have been consulted and the bill will be drafted accordingly.

"A bill will be introduced during the upcoming Monsoon session of the state legislative assembly," Chaturvedi, who was in the meeting as a member of the ministerial subcommittee, said.

After the meeting, the Gujjar delegation led by Kirori Singh Bainsla and the ministerial subcommittee members met the chief minister at her official residence.

In May this year, the state government had issued a notification to re-include five castes of Gujjar/Gurjar, Banjara/Baldia/Labana, Gadia-Lohar/Gadalia,Raika/Rebari and Gadaria (Gaadri), in the OCB list.

These castes were first included in the OBC list in 1994.

The castes were re-included in OBC after state High Court in December last year struck down the Special Backward Class (SBC) Reservation Act, 2015, which provided special backward class status to these five castes.