Telangana Assembly passes Bills granting 42% reservations for Backward Classes

The Telangana Legislative Assembly has passed two key Bills granting 42% reservations for Backward Classes in education, government jobs, and local bodies.

AMN/ WEB DESK

Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has proposed an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on enhancing education, employment and political reservations to 42 per cent in the state.

Mr Reddy wrote a letter to this extent to the Prime Minister last night. He sought an appointment for all party delegations which include representatives from Congress, BJP, BRS, MIM and CPI to discuss the state government’s decision to increase quotas for Backward Classes (BC) to 42 per cent in local bodies, educational institutions and public service appointments.

The Chief Minister also informed in his letter that the Telangana Government had conducted a door-to-door Socio, Educational, Economic, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) survey to determine the representation of BCs. Based on the data collected, the state government introduced two Bills in the Legislative Assembly yesterday, proposing a hike in reservations from 29 per cent to 42 per cent for BCs in various sectors.

Once approved by the Centre, the BCs will get 42 per cent, Scheduled Castes 15 per cent and Scheduled Tribes 10 per cent reservation in Telangana.

Earlier, the Chief Minister requested the Union Ministers from Telangana – Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar – to facilitate an appointment with Modi to discuss the proposal. He also tasked Congress Working President Mahesh Kumar Goud with securing a meeting with Rahul Gandhi to ensure that the issue is raised in Parliament. He assured that the Telangana Government would not rest until the 42 per cent quota for BCs is approved at the national level.

Cutting across political lines, MLAs from the Congress, its ally CPI and the Opposition BJP and BRS extended their support for the Bill to provide reservations to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) by way of sub classification in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. Congress MLA Vivek Venkata Swamy welcomed the Bill and said that the government must consider allocating 18 per cent of the State Budget for the SC community on Wednesday.