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Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil, who started his hunger strike on 19 January said that the Maharashtra government has accepted his request and therefore, the protest is over now.
“Our protest is now over. Our request has been accepted. I will drink juice by the hands of the Chief Minister tomorrow (Saturday),” Patil said.
Meanwhile, on Saturday Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and Patil together garland the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Navi Mumbai. Patil ended his fast in the presence of Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde after the state government accepted all demands.
What were the demands of Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil?
Manoj Jarange Patil demanded immediate implementation of the Maratha reservation.
Marathas constitute 33% of the Maharashtra’s population. They cover a range of castes and can be found in different professions such as landowners, peasants, and warriors.
The surnames of Maratha Kshatriyas are Deshmukh, Bhonsle, More, Shirke, and Jadhav while Kunbi are predominantly agrarian sub-caste.
With low yields of land holdings, and often hit by drought, the agarian Maratha face farm distress. These are the people who have sought reservation. That’s why the Marathwada region has emerged as the epicentre of the Maratha caste agitation.
A Kunbi certificate would be given if they get a reservation.
The first protest for reservations of Marathas took place in 1982. The protest was led by labour union leader Annasaheb Patil.
After the Mandal Commission report of 1990, the demand for reservations on economic grounds started changing to quotas on caste lines.
In 2004, the Maharashtra government included Maratha-Kunbis and Kunbi-Marathas in the list of other backward classes (OBCs) but left out those who identified as Marathas. Kunbi came under the OBCs category.
In 2018, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis passed a bill, granting 16% reservation to Marathas in education and jobs.
However, the Maratha reservation was challenged in the Bombay High Court, which upheld its validity. The court reduced the quota to 13% in jobs and 12% in education.
The Maratha reservation was then challenged in the Supreme Court. The apex court struck down the law brought in by the Maharashtra government in 2018 as it was violating the 50% reservation ceiling in the state.
On Friday a Maharashtra minister said that the movement for the Maratha reservation under the leadership of Manoj Jarange Patil has reached a solution. The ordinance that was passed has the solution to all the problems.
Patil has announced that since the solution has been received, there is no need to continue the protests.
Patil demanded that the government amend its free education policy to include all Marathas until the benefit of reservation becomes available for the entire community.
The free education policy should be amended so that boys also get free education besides girls, and all Marathas should get free education “from KG to PG” (kindergarten to post-graduation) until the entire community gets reservation, he said.
He has sought data of the 37 lakh Kunbi certificates issued by the state government.
Present government job recruitment should be carried out by keeping some seats reserved for the Marathas, he added.
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Published: 27 Jan 2024, 11:11 AM IST
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