New delhi,January 28 :The centre has asked all states to follow Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to provide increased quotas for minorities under the OBC ambit. The move comes on Wednesday after the Centre found it tough to push through a quota for Muslims in educational institutes and government jobs on the lines of a model recommended by the Ranganath Misra Committee report.
Acting on reports that West Bengal was likely to update its OBC list by including more Muslim groups into it, Union minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid said the Centre welcomed attempts by the states to provide the increased reservation. He said the Union government would give necessary support to the states on this issue.
The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), a constituent of the Left Front government in Bengal, had asked the LF leadership to increase reservation for Muslims in the state.
AIFB general secretary Debabrata Biswas said the front was “positively considering” his party’s recommendation. “If Kerala can implement this, why not Bengal?” he wondered.
Welcoming Bengal’s plan, Khurshid said: “The states can renew their backward classes list to include more minorities. This is the best way to provide reservation for socially backward groups.” Khurshid said discussions are under way on fulfilling the Congress’s election promise that reservations will be provided for minorities in government employment and education on the basis of their social and economic backwardness. “ It’s a commitment.
We are working on it. But it’s always good when the states come forward,” Khurshid said.
The Congress had said in its poll manifesto that the party was irrevocably committed to ensuring that the representation of minorities in public administration increased substantially.
“ The Congress has pioneered reservations for minorities in Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in government employment and education on the basis of their social and economic backwardness,” the manifesto had said.
The Misra panel had recommended 10 per cent reservation for Muslims and 5 per cent for other minorities in government jobs. But in most of the states, Muslims enjoy just 8 per cent reservation under the OBC quota.
In Kerala, a 10 to 12 per cent quota is reserved for Muslims within the OBC fold. In Karnataka, all Muslims enjoy reservations under the OBC ambit. In 2007, Andhra Pradesh had decided to reserve 4 per cent of government jobs and seats in staterun education institutions to Muslims belonging for 25 socially and educationally backward classes.
The Centre feels that following the state models would be easier than adopting the Misra panel’s proposals.
Article 340 of the Constitution empowers a state to appoint a commission to probe the state of backward classes.
KHURSHID’S ADVICE
Union minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid says all states can renew their backward classes list to include more minorities — ‘the best way to provide reservation for socially backward groups’
He wants the states to follow the models of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh in this regard
Khurshid feels that following these models will be comparatively easier than adopting the Ranganath Misra Committee’s proposals