Mumbai: After dragging its feet for over two months, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday finally made public the report prepared by the State Backward Classes Commission (SBCC). The report is a full-fledged research and analysis of the Maratha Community and has been relied upon by the government for granting 16 per cent reservation to the community in public sector jobs and educational institutions.
In over 1000-page report, SBCC has highlighted various aspects of the Maratha community for establishing its ‘social and educational’ backwardness. The report highlighted the fact that majority of farmers in the community committed suicide due to their inability to repay loans. It further highlights the high number of suicides by unmarried daughters of Marathas, as their families have no resources to spend on their marriages.
“Out of the total 13,368 farmers committing suicide, at least 2152 farmers belonged to Maratha community, a majority of whom have committed suicides due to indebtedness and agricultural distress. The commission takes judicial note of the fact that in Maharashtra, more particularly in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, there are instances of suicide on a daily basis,” the report states.
According to the commission, the only remedy to stop this suicidal trend is, “to expose the Marathas to diversified occupational and professional sectors other than agriculture, adoption of modern methods and practises in agriculture. For all this, enhancing educational standards is the way out, which would also help obliterate the social aspects of backwardness from the Maratha psyche,” the report states. The commission has further considered the rampant prevalence of superstition and belief in super-natural powers, in the community.
“Lower percentage of inter-caste and inter-religion marriages, no remarriage of widows, tendency of marrying the girls at young age even before they turn 18, under the anxiety of their safety and security from anti-social elements are surely the parameters of social backwardness prevalent among the community,” the commission opined. “The prevalence of adopting superstitious practices, belief in supernatural powers, getting treated by tantriks instead of doctors and animal sacrifice are rampant,” the commission noted.
The commission also took into account the fact that at least 76.86 per cent of Maratha families are involved in agriculture, which is more than other reserved categories. If not agriculture, then most Marathas are involved in works like Mathadi, Hamal, maid-servants and sugarcane cutting labourers, the report notes. The report has also highlighted the fact that a total of 70 per cent of the community lives in kaccha (makeshift) dwellings, while 73 per cent of Marathas perceive themselves as backward, which is not the case in Kunbis and other backward classes.
Apart from this, it further considered that 88.81 per cent Maratha women are engaged in physical labour and 93 per cent of the community have incomes, which is below that of middle-class families. The panel accordingly concluded that the Marathas are educationally and socially backward, and thus need reservation.
