Comments
The West Bengal government is considering enhancing the reservation ratio for the backward classes and communities from the existing 45 per cent to the maximum cap of 50 per cent. According to sources, the issue was discussed during the last Cabinet meeting on July 6.
The Backward Classes Welfare Minister, Mr Upendra Nath Biswas, could not be contacted for comments.
In 2010, based on the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Committee, the former Left Front government had brought a host of minority communities under the reservation status. Accordingly, an additional 10 per cent government jobs and other such facilities were reserved for “other OBCs” or “OBC-B” category. This was in addition to 7 per cent existing reservation for OBCs (other backward classes).
Incidentally, a shift in the backward class vote in favour of Ms Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is considered as one of the major reasons behind the recent poll debacle of the Left in West Bengal.
According to sources in the Mamata Banerjee government, on June 6 the Backward Classes' Welfare Department was asked to prepare a report on the existing reservation status and possibilities of expanding the scope of reservation to the maximum extent.
Sources told Business Line that the concerned department suggested enhancing the scope of reservation for the scheduled castes (SC) – constituting 23 per cent of the state's population (Census 2001) – from the existing 22 to 24 per cent. Census 2001 recorded 14.8 per cent decadal growth in population for the 59 notified SC communities in the State.
The scheduled tribes contributing a mere 5.5 per cent of the population may now enjoy 7 per cent reservation, up from 6 per cent. The reservation for OBCs (OBC-A) as well as ‘other OBCs' (OBC-B) may be increased to 8 per cent (7 per cent) and 11 per cent (10 per cent) respectively.
The proposals are expected to be considered at the next Cabinet meeting later this month.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.