Telangana government to pass bill to hike OBC quota to 42 per cent

NEW DELHI: The Telangana government on Wednesday said it would pass a bill in the assembly soon to hike the reservation to OBCs to 42 per cent even as it decided to accept data from citizens who were left out during the caste survey conducted by it last year. State Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka told reporters here that government would pass a bill in the assembly in early March to provide 42 per cent political, education and employment reservation to the OBCs as per the election promise of ruling Congress.

The Congress had announced a 'BC Declaration' before the assembly elections in 2023, promising to increase BC quota to 42 per cent from 23 per cent in local bodies to provide new political leadership positions for them, besides giving 42 per cent reservation in government civil construction and maintenance contracts. Vikramarka said the state government would mount pressure on the Centre to see that the bill passed in the assembly gets Parliament's nod as provision of 42 per cent reservation for OBCs coupled with quotas for other communities would lead to breaching of the 50 per cent cap on reservations.

OBC bill aims for statutory status

Besides enlisting the support of Congress MPs, a state government delegation would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other senior ministers and also leaders of all parties who have representation in parliament to drum up support for the bill, he said. "With the cooperation of all of them, we will get it passed in parliament. We are starting the process of realizing the decades-long dreams of OBCs, giving it statutory status," he said.

The government would take along all those parties who are willing to join to meet the PM and leaders of other parties, he said. The deputy CM also said the data from the families left over during caste survey would be accepted from February 16 to 28. Such citizens can approach the government through a toll free number which would be announced, in the mandal offices and also online, he said.

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Backward classes' demand for legal status takes priority

Taking a dig at BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, his son and BRS Working President K T Rama Rao for not participating in the survey conducted during November-December last year, he said all those left out of the survey should make use of the opportunity now. Asked if the local body polls which are due would be held after the completion of the entire process, he said the wish of backward classes (including backward sections among Muslims) who constitute 56 per cent of the state's population as per the caste survey to provide legal status to their demand takes precedence.

The government would make all efforts to provide statutory status to their demand for quotas, he said. Asked if the local body polls would not be held until the Centre resolves the issue, Vikramarka expressed confidence that it would approve of the move. The Congress government's comprehensive socio-economic, employment, political and caste survey, an election promise of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, was conducted for 50 days from November 6.

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Backward classes form majority of Telangana population

The state government had said the survey covered 3,54,77,554 individuals (96.9 per cent of population) and that 3.1 per cent of the population (16 lakh) were left out of the exercise as they were either not available or did not show interest in participating in it. Backward classes other than Muslim minorities at 46.25 per cent form the largest chunk of the total 3.70 crore population of Telangana, according to the caste survey.

The population of BCs is followed by the Scheduled Castes (17.43 per cent), Scheduled Tribes (10.45), backward classes among Muslims (10.08) and Other Castes (13.31), OCs among Muslims (2.48) in terms of the percentage of population. Telangana provides reservations to backward Muslims in the backward classes category.