The Maharashtra Assembly passed a bill for implementing 16 % reservation for Marathas, under the socially and educationally backward class, on Thursday.
Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, proposed the bill. Mr. Fadnavis and the other members of the Maharashtra Assembly unanimously agreed to pass the bill.
According to the bill, there will be a reservation for Marathas for admission in educational institutions and for posts in the public sector. The Marathas, who were declared a socially and educationally backward class of citizens, were demanding a special quota since a long time. The Maratha community forms 30 % of Maharashtra’s population.
The demands of the Marathas regarding the quota recently took a violent turn and resulted in riots in July and August.
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, with the Maharashtra Legislative Council, formed a Cabinet Subcommittee to review the bill. The Committee passed the bill, on the 15th of November and further proposed it to the Cabinet for approval, on the 18th of November.
The bill will have a special backward category for the Marathas and will not affect the existing quotas for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC.)
The Government, upon reviewing the Committee’s report, declared the bill will be effective from Thursday (29th November, 2018) onward.
