AMN / BHOPAL
Madhya Pradesh Assembly Tuesday unanimously passed an amendment Bill raising reservation in government jobs and education for Other Backward Classes (OBC) to 27 per cent from the present 14 per cent.
The Bill is now going to the Governor and President for assent.
Reservation for Scheduled Caste-SC is 16 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes-ST stands at 20 per cent.
Soon after the bill was cleared, Public Relations and Law Minister PC Sharma took on the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime for having failed to do the same.
He said the BJP was in power for 15 years in the state and at the helm were those who represented the OBC category, but nothing was done during its rule. All the three BJP chief ministers since 2003 — Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur and Shivraj Singh Chouhan — belonged to this category.
Earlier in March this year, ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Madhya Pradesh government had brought an ordinance raising OBC quota to 27 per cent. It was, however, stayed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
During the discussion, some MLAs also demanded that quota be introduced in the private sector. Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava demanded that creamy layer be introduced within the OBC quota so that its benefit could reach those who never took benefit of such reservation.
Mr. Bhargava said a provision of at least 7 per cent quota for Ati-Pichhda-extremely backward under the OBC category should be introduced. He said the extremely backward quota in other states will be analyzed.