RJD, CPI(ML) demand inclusion of 65% reservation quota in Constitution

Reservation quota: Holding placards, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members of RJD, CPI(ML) raised slogans against the BJP and JD(U) outside the Parliament on Thursday

Rashtriya Janata Dal and Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) have raised the demand for inclusion of Bihar's increased 65 per cent reservation quota for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Backward Classes (BCs) in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.

To push their demand RJD and CPI(ML) held a demonstration outside the Parliament on Thursday. Holding placards, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members of both parties raised slogans against the BJP and JD(U), the two NDA allies currently in power in Bihar.

RJD MP Misa Bharti said that the protest is aimed at seeking protection of the increased quota from the Centre, according to a Times of India report. “We want the Centre to include it in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution,” she said, while adding, “The erstwhile Grand Alliance government conducted the caste-based census, following which it increased the quota for the respective castes in proportion to their increased population. The Centre needs to give protection to the increased quota by placing it in the Ninth Schedule.”

Responding to the demand, Vijay Kumar Choudhary said that the government is awaiting the final order of the Supreme Court. “Only after the apex court's order could anything concrete be done,” he said.

The demand from RJD and CPI(ML) comes on the heels of the Supreme Court refusing to stay a Patna high court order that quashed the increased quota for SCs, STs, EBCs and BCs in government institutions and jobs. The Patna HC order had come on a petition challenging the increase in quota.

What is Bihar’s reservation quota?

Based on the data collected in the Bihar Caste Survey conducted between June 2022 and August 2023, the previous state government, also under Nitish Kumar, increased the reservation quota for OBCs, EBCs, SCs, and STs from 50 per cent to 65 per cent in educational institutes and public departments.
 

The Bill was unanimously passed on November 9, 2023, by the Assembly a month after the Bihar government published the report of the Caste Survey carried out in the state. With an additional 10 percent reservation for economically weaker sections, the total quota for reservation in Bihar stood at 75 per cent.
 

However, a petition challenging the validity of the Caste Survey was later filed in the Supreme Court.