RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to include the state’s amended provisions to provide 76% reservation for SC, ST OBC and RWS in the ninth schedule of the Constitution for "based on the population" of the state.
The reservation (Amendment) Bill passed by the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly in December 2022 provides for 13% reservation for Scheduled Castes, 32% for Scheduled Tribes, 27% for Other Backward Classes, and 4% for Economically Weaker Sections in the state.
The Congress chief minister’s latest letter to the Prime Minister came a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called for a caste census at Kolar in Karnataka with a slogan “Jitni Aabadi, utini haq’ – indicating that quota should be proportional to the population.
In the letter, the Chief Minister has mentioned that inclusion of the amended provisions of reservation in the ninth schedule of the Constitution would ensure justice for the deprived and marginalized sections of the society, considering the special circumstances of the state. He has requested the Prime Minister to direct all concerned officials to take necessary action in this regard.
The Chief Minister has also highlighted that 32% of Chhattisgarh's total population consists of Scheduled Tribes, 13% are Scheduled Castes, and 42% are from Other Backward Classes. Moreover, 44% of the state's land is covered with forests, and a large part of the state is covered by inaccessible mountainous regions. These factors contribute to the state's unique situation and the need for special provisions for reservation.
Baghel pointed out that reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes were provisioned at 12%, 32%, and 14% (total 58%) respectively since 2013, which was annulled by the Chhattisgarh High Court in 2022. In December 2022, the state assembly unanimously passed a bill based on the population of different categories to increase the reservation percentage for SC, ST and Other Backward Classes, and EWS people to 13%, 32%, 27%, and 4%, respectively. This bill is currently pending with the Governor for his assent.
By declaring the decision to provide 10% reservation to EWS people by the Supreme Court's constitutional bench in November 2022 as valid, the path to increase the reservation limit from 50% has become commendable. In the past month, proposals to increase reservation percentages for various categories have been passed in the Jharkhand and Karnataka legislatures.
It was also pointed out that Tamil Nadu state, where per capita income is much higher than Chhattisgarh and several states in the Northeast, reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs are more than 50%.
