Maharashtra Government Sets Up Cabinet Sub-Committee To Look After Welfare Of OBCs
The sources said the cabinet sub-committee for OBCs will work to expedite welfare measures for the community and thrash out issues related to quota.
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided to set up a cabinet sub-committee to expedite welfare measures for Other Backward Classes and resolve issues related to job quota, sources said, a move coming as another round of reservation stir by the Maratha community looms.
The state already has a separate ministry for OBC welfare, which is currently headed by a BJP cabinet member.
The sources said the cabinet sub-committee for OBCs will work to expedite welfare measures for the community and thrash out issues related to quota.
Members of the new body will be announced after all three partners in the ruling Mahayuti coalition --- the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP -- give names of their respective ministers, they said.
In February 2024, the Eknath Shinde-led government had decided to give 10% reservation in government jobs and education to Marathas under a separate category after accepting recommendations of the State Backward Class Commission.
A cabinet sub-committee on Marathas was formed in 2022 after the Supreme Court struck down a 2018 law granting quota to the community as unconstitutional as the legislation breached the 50% ceiling set by the apex court in 1992.
Quota activist Manoj Jarange has been demanding that Marathas be given reservation in jobs and education under the OBC category (27%). The 43-year-old activist has announced a fresh round of indefinite hunger strike for Maratha reservation in Mumbai from Aug. 29.
