Rather than a special reservation for Marathas, Manoj Jarange-Patil stated that he preferred reservations from the OBC quota. Manoj Jarange-Patil, a Maratha activist for reservation, persisted in his hunger strike in his native Jalna on Tuesday, despite the Maharashtra government hastily calling a special session to approve a bill granting quota to Mararthas. Although Jarange-Patil applauded the decision to make reservations for the majority Maratha community, he voiced concerns about the bill’s ability to withstand legal challenges.
The Maratha Reservation Bill was approved by both houses of the Maharashtra legislature with the intention of going over the 50% cap and giving Marathas a 10% quota in jobs and education. The Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2018, which was introduced by the Devendra Fadnavis government at the time, is comparable to the bill. The 1992 50% cap on the 2018 Act was used by the Supreme Court to invalidate it. For what reason is Jarange-Patil still on hunger strike?
Due to the fact that a previous bill pertaining to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) was unsuccessful in court and overturned in 2021, Jarange-Patil is adamant about a quota.
However, the government decided that the only people who would benefit from this would be those who had documents from the Nizam era, such as Kunbi certificates.
The government’s reservation will only benefit 100-150 Maratha people, meaning that our people will continue to be without reservations. For this reason, I am demanding the implementation of Sage Soyare; the next round of anxiety will be stated tomorrow. He said, “We’ll take what we deserve.” In addition, he took the intravenous drip out of his hand and declined the doctors’ continued treatment.
Minister for Maharashtra Shambhuraj Desai responded to Jarange-Patil’s demand by saying, “The administration has met the requests of Manoj Jarange Patil and the Maratha community.” After reviewing the objections, the government will make a decision. There’s no need to protest, I ask him.
In the third attempt to carve out an allowance for the once-dominant agrarian community, the Maharashtra Legislature unanimously approved a bill reserving 10% of seats in educational institutions and the same percentage of government jobs for members of the Maratha community. Previous attempts to enact similar laws in 2014 and 2019 were overturned by the courts. The Maharashtra government used a report from the Maharashtra State Commission for the Backward Classes (MSCBC) as the foundation for the reservation in a bill that was approved by the state legislature’s two houses.
According to the report, the Marathas constitute 28% of Maharashtra’s population and are particularly disadvantaged due to their unique circumstances, which justifies a reservation beyond the 50% cap set by the Supreme Court. The 10% quota is in addition to the state’s current 62% reservation, which consists of a 10% quota for members of the economically disadvantaged sections (EWS) and a remaining 52% caste-based quota.
