Maratha Quota Bill: How the Maratha Community Becomes Eligible for Reservation As Per Indira Sawhney Judgement

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has convened a special session today to provide reservations to the Maratha community. Earlier, the state cabinet had approved the report submitted by the Backward Classes Commission. According to this, the Maratha community will be given 10 percent reservation in jobs and education in the state. The Cabinet, headed by Eknath Shinde, has approved the call of the Backward Classes Commission before the special session. The Bill for Maratha reservation will be introduced in the Assembly today and some provisions have been made in Bill 1. 

A bill for Maratha reservation will be introduced in the Assembly today and some important provisions have been made in this bill. Accordingly, the report of the Backward Classes Commission states that the Maratha community is backward. The report also said that there is an exceptional situation required to provide more than 50 percent reservation. The Maratha community constitutes 28 percent of the state. A large number of castes and groups with about 52 percent reservation are already in the reserved category. Therefore, it would be completely unusual to keep such a Maratha community, which constitutes 28 percent of the state, in the Other Backward Classes category, the commission said in its report.

According to the Backward Classes Commission report, the bill will be introduced in the Assembly today. In it, provisions have been made giving information about why reservation is necessary for the Maratha community. Citing the Indra Sawhney case, the Maratha community is eligible for reservation in education and jobs. 

Key points in the Bill

In Maharashtra, Maratha households below the poverty line and with yellow ration cards constitute 21.22 percent, while those below the poverty line constitute 18.09 percent. The percentage of Maratha families is higher than the state average (17.4 percent), indicating that they are economically backward, the bill said. 

The percentage of farmers' suicides shows that 94 percent of such suicides are from the Maratha community. The economic condition of the Maratha community has been deteriorating due to factors such as loss of returns from agriculture, fragmentation of holding land, loss of traditional reputation associated with agriculture, lack of attention to the educational training of youth, etc.

It was found that  84 percent of the Maratha community's population does not fall under the advanced and advanced category, and is eligible for special protection to provide adequate reservation in jobs and education, as decided in the Indra Sawhney case.