04-09-2007, 01:34 AM
<!--emo&:ind--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/india.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='india.gif' /><!--endemo--> Exclude creamy layer from quota benefits: Meenas
Rajeev Ranjan Roy | New Delhi
After the anti-quota lobby, the demand for exclusion of creamy layer among the powerful Meena tribe in Rajasthan has reached the Centre. Meenas are a major beneficiary of quota among the country's tribal communities. Such a 'clamour' from the Meenas themselves, seeking the exclusion of creamy layer for 'equitable distribution' of quota benefits, has reached the Prime Ministers' Office (PMO).
After receiving a representation from the Akhil Bharatiya Meena Sangh (ABMS), the PMO recently referred the matter to the Union Social Justice and Empowered (SJ&E) Ministry for appropriate action. "The Ministry is looking into the matter seriously," a Ministry source said.
In the petition, the ABMS has claimed that 90 per cent Meenas have not been able to reap the benefits of quota as the rich among them usurp their share. "Without excluding the creamy layer from the ambit of quota, the dream of social justice cannot be realised," the ABMS president Rambhajan Meena has stated in the petition to the PMO.
The issue assumes significance, as there is the provision of the creamy layer among OBCs, who are not entitled to any benefits under the Centre's current quota policy. There is no such provision among SCs and STs. "It is strange that the children of an OBC IAS officer would not be entitled to quota benefits as per the existing norms, but the children of his SC/ST counterpart would be. It is a serious anomaly, so far as the quota in jobs is concerned," a Ministry official said.
"The moment someone from the economically and educationally backward gets a job through quota that upgrades him to the category of creamy layer, he is capable of providing quality education to his children. Hence, such people should be excluded from the benefits of quota in the jobs," he added. Any OBC with an annual income of Rs 2.50 lakh falls under the creamy layer category.
A similar fight is already going on between Malas and Madigas, the two powerful SC groups, in Andhra Pradesh. The Madigas have accused Malas of usurping the share of other SC groups in the Government jobs in the State.
The Madigas are the majority Scheduled Caste group in the State with 68-lakh population after the Malas, but their presence in the Government jobs is not in proportion to the population. As a result, the State Government enacted the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Act, 2000 for the sub-categorisation of SCs, earmarking the quota to SCs in proportion to their population.
As per the sub-categorisation of SCs, the State Government earmarked 7 per cent quota for Madigas, 6 per cent to Malas, one per cent each to Rellis, and Adi Andhra, totalling 15 per cent in the Government jobs and the State-owned and funded institutions.
The malas, with 54 lakh population and capturing 65 per cent job opportunities, moved the Supreme Court, challenging Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Act, 2000 of the State Government.
In November 2004, the Supreme Court struck down the State Government's Act, stating that by the impugned legislation, the State has sought to re-group the homogeneous group specified in Presidential notification for the purpose of reservation and appointments.
It would tantamount to discrimination in reverse and would attract wrath of Article 14 of the Constitution.
Now the SJ&E Ministry is going to set up a one-member commission under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice of India Justice MM Panchhi to suggest ways to end the quota war between Malas and Madigas.
Rajeev Ranjan Roy | New Delhi
After the anti-quota lobby, the demand for exclusion of creamy layer among the powerful Meena tribe in Rajasthan has reached the Centre. Meenas are a major beneficiary of quota among the country's tribal communities. Such a 'clamour' from the Meenas themselves, seeking the exclusion of creamy layer for 'equitable distribution' of quota benefits, has reached the Prime Ministers' Office (PMO).
After receiving a representation from the Akhil Bharatiya Meena Sangh (ABMS), the PMO recently referred the matter to the Union Social Justice and Empowered (SJ&E) Ministry for appropriate action. "The Ministry is looking into the matter seriously," a Ministry source said.
In the petition, the ABMS has claimed that 90 per cent Meenas have not been able to reap the benefits of quota as the rich among them usurp their share. "Without excluding the creamy layer from the ambit of quota, the dream of social justice cannot be realised," the ABMS president Rambhajan Meena has stated in the petition to the PMO.
The issue assumes significance, as there is the provision of the creamy layer among OBCs, who are not entitled to any benefits under the Centre's current quota policy. There is no such provision among SCs and STs. "It is strange that the children of an OBC IAS officer would not be entitled to quota benefits as per the existing norms, but the children of his SC/ST counterpart would be. It is a serious anomaly, so far as the quota in jobs is concerned," a Ministry official said.
"The moment someone from the economically and educationally backward gets a job through quota that upgrades him to the category of creamy layer, he is capable of providing quality education to his children. Hence, such people should be excluded from the benefits of quota in the jobs," he added. Any OBC with an annual income of Rs 2.50 lakh falls under the creamy layer category.
A similar fight is already going on between Malas and Madigas, the two powerful SC groups, in Andhra Pradesh. The Madigas have accused Malas of usurping the share of other SC groups in the Government jobs in the State.
The Madigas are the majority Scheduled Caste group in the State with 68-lakh population after the Malas, but their presence in the Government jobs is not in proportion to the population. As a result, the State Government enacted the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Act, 2000 for the sub-categorisation of SCs, earmarking the quota to SCs in proportion to their population.
As per the sub-categorisation of SCs, the State Government earmarked 7 per cent quota for Madigas, 6 per cent to Malas, one per cent each to Rellis, and Adi Andhra, totalling 15 per cent in the Government jobs and the State-owned and funded institutions.
The malas, with 54 lakh population and capturing 65 per cent job opportunities, moved the Supreme Court, challenging Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Act, 2000 of the State Government.
In November 2004, the Supreme Court struck down the State Government's Act, stating that by the impugned legislation, the State has sought to re-group the homogeneous group specified in Presidential notification for the purpose of reservation and appointments.
It would tantamount to discrimination in reverse and would attract wrath of Article 14 of the Constitution.
Now the SJ&E Ministry is going to set up a one-member commission under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice of India Justice MM Panchhi to suggest ways to end the quota war between Malas and Madigas.