New Delhi : Social Justice Minister Kumari Selja has indicated a government move to grant the status of the ”other backward class” (OBC) to the Jat community from across the country in the central OBC list. She gave an assurance to a delegation of the Akhil Bharatiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti here on Friday, saying “we will consider the Jat demand for central OBC list.”
The Jats are politically important class in many northern states, with their number highest in Haryana comprising 26 per cent of the population and they have been traditional supporters of Om Prakash Chautala”s Indian National Lok Dal.
They already enjoy the OBC status in some states but not uniformly as it depends on the decision by the concerned state government. The Samiti wants the Jat status not only to the Hindu Jats but also the Muslim and Sikh Jats in the central OBC list on the ground that all Jats have the similar social status as many other OBCs in the central list.
Jats, who are primarily the farmer community, are based in Haryana, Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir with some presence in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. The Rajasthan Jats are in the Central OBC list, except for those from few districts where the erstwhile rulers were from the community and hence they were left out.
Rajasthan”s state list recognises both Hindu and Sikh Jats as OBCs. Similarly, the Haryana Backward Commission included the Hindu and Sikh Jats in the state”s OBC list but excluded the Muslim jats while the Muslim Jats of Gujarat are in the OBC list but not the Hindu jats.
