The Chief Minister of the Rajasthan state government, Mr. Ashok Gehlot, took to X, formerly Twitter, to announce a 6% quota for Most Backward Castes within OBCs, in addition to the existing 21% reservation.
“A survey will be conducted by the OBC Commission to identify the most backward castes in the OBC category and the commission will submit the report in a time-bound manner” Gehlot tweeted on Wednesday night.
He also stated that because of the additional reservation to the most backward castes in the OBC category, they will get more opportunities for education and services in the government sector.
In the 10 percent reservation of the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), the government of Rajasthan had removed the requirement of immovable property. Therefore, this category can also avail all the benefits and advantages of the reservation.
The announcement of the additional six percent reservation came after, CM Gehlot addressed a rally in Banswara’s Mangarh Dham. While addressing the rally with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, CM Gehlot put forward his government’s willingness in favour of conducting a caste-based census.
Chief Minister Gehlot also commented on the several rallies conducted by the SCs and STs in the state, demanding reservation on the basis of population. “The government is also examining this demand”, Gehlot said.
“The one who deserves their share on the basis of their caste (strength) will get it”, Gehlot said. He also added that his government is striving to remove all the discrepancies in OBC reservations in the state.
At present, the reservations in the government sector in Rajasthan stand well above the ceiling decided under the Indra Sawhney case of 1992 (popularly Mandal Commission case) at 50 percent.
It is worth noting that 64 percent of the seats in the government sector are reserved, and if the additional 6 percent reservation will be sanctioned, then the total reserved seats will be a massive 70% of the available seats.
In the past, the state government has also tried to give 5% reservation to the Gujjars as a Special Backward Class, which was struck down by the Rajasthan High Court, stating that it not only exceeded the 50% ceiling but was also not backed by quantifiable data.
