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Gujjar march: Stage set for Jaipur siege
Akhilesh Kumar Singh & Abhinav Sharma, TNN, Apr 16, 2010, 02.43am IST
JAIPUR: Haunted by past misdemeanors of persistent procrastination,
state government is now exploring possibilities to sort out the Gujjar
quota issue, as the agitating community members are inching towards
Jaipur and threaten to lay siege to the desert state capital within
the next few days.
However, going by the dilly-dally approach of the government and also
the rigid attitude of the community, the state seems to be heading for
yet another impasse, despite the fact the Gujjar agitations in the
past have witnessed loss of lives as well as property. However, under
given circumstances, Gujjar community's latest demand of exclusive 5%
quota, leaving aside their previous demand of scheduled tribe status,
seems to be a remote possibility.
State government has already given special backward status to the
community and accorded 5% quota and another 14% for the economically
weaker sections. But it exceeded the 50% limit and now Rajasthan High
Court has stayed its operations.
As the quota given by the government has fallen in legal tangles,
Gujjars have shifted from their previous strategy and now, they are
seeking exclusive 50% quota by truncating the existing OBC category
quota.
Although Gujjars are listed in the OBC category, along with 67 other
castes but they want specified and dedicated 5% quota for themselves,
a demand that has put state government on a sticky wicket, mainly at a
time when the quota given to the community is sub judice.
In 2007, the government of Andhra Pradesh had given 4% special
reservation to Muslim community which was in legal tangles for quite
some time. But a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan
and Justices J M Panchal and Justice B S Chauhan, allowed the state to
continue with it ad-interim, till the final verdict is pronounced by a
constitution bench.
The apex court had cautioned against any disproportionate use of
"reservation"
perpetuate casteism, in M. Nagraj versus Union of India case in 2006
itself. However, the bench had also said reservation beyond 50%
ceiling is permissible provided there are circumstances to justify
representation of those communities to which the excess reservation is
proposed.
The above observations of the apex court renders a glimmer of hope in
favour of the Gujjars provided the state government treads the issue
in right earnest. Although Government had appealed in Rajasthan High
Court seeking vacation of the stay but court denied it.
Interestingly, the state has not shown any interest in going in appeal
in the Supreme Court against the Rajasthan High Court order, unlike
Andhra Pradesh, which got relief from the apex court in the Muslim
quota case, which had also been stayed by the Andhra High Court.
Rajasthan state advocate general, G S Baphana, said that the state had
no plans to appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the Rajasthan High
Court order.
"We had pleaded that the act provisioning quota for the Gujjars was
valid, but High Court refused to vacate the stay and we have no option
but to comply with it," he said. Queried further, he said, "I have no
information if state has any plans to go into appeal in the Supreme
Court."
The observations of the Supreme Court bench in the Nagaraj's case that
the reservation beyond 50 percent ceiling limit is permissible
provided there are circumstances to justify the representation of
those communities also gives the state an opportunity to think beyond
political permutations and make efforts for the community, who remain
to be extremely backwards even after 60 years of independence.
Gujjar population in Rajasthan is over 6% of the state population
(over 5million) but there are only 14 gazetted officers, six
university teachers, 10 college lecturers, 30 doctors, 20 engineers
and over 2000 in other government services. There are hardly any
Gujjar in trade and business and in Karauli and Sawai Madhopur, 40.18%
and 37.47% Gujjar families are classified as BPL families. There are
only five RAS officers from the community but none has made it to the
all India services till date.
Although Gujjars in Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal are classified as
Scheduled Tribes they could not make it to the category in Rajasthan
mainly due to political considerations. On the other hand, Meenas in
eastern Rajasthan come from the same background but have been listed
as a scheduled tribe have been reaping the maximum benifit of the ST
quota not only in Rajasthan but across the country. Meena candidates
constitute a majority in the all India services and they are far ahead
of other tribes in the country. At present, over 250 Meena people are
in all India services, to say the least about the state services.
Experts say that Gujjars felt envious of Meenas' growth through
services as the community live in the neighbourhood in the eastern
Rajasthan but the inclusion of Jat community on the OBC category was
the biggest damage to the community and they are fighting for separate
quota since then. The OBC reservation was introduced in Rajasthan in
1994 and Gujjars were the most dominant in the listed OBC castes.
But in 2000, the NDA government included Jats in the OBC category
after which Gujjars got only peripheral benefits of the OBC quota.
Jats, who constitute over 10% of the Rajasthan population, are the
most effluent among the Rajasthan castes and their inclusion in the
category did the maximum damage to Gujjars. "Since then, Gujjars are
left to fend for themselves but their demand is rightful as they
remain to be the most backward in the state," says Narain Barith, a
journalist from eastern Rajasthan.
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