The State Commission for Backward Classes has decided to conduct a survey of all social groups in Maharashtra, including the Maratha community. The decision, taken at a meeting in Pune on Thursday, comes against the backdrop of the charged atmosphere over clamour for reservation among Marathas, Dhangars and OBCs.
The commission will also determine the backwardness of the Maratha community, like all other social groups, especially in view of activist Manoj Jarange-Patil’s persistent claim that the Maratha society is backward.
Panel To Come Up With Criteria To Measure Backwardness
The panel, which has fixed the criteria for backwardness among all castes of Marathas, OBCs and other open categories, has now decided to evolve uniform criteria for measuring the social, educational and economic backwardness of all social groups.
The questionnaire for the survey, which will start in 10 days, will be based on 20 criteria that were fixed in Thursday’s meeting. More than one lakh government employees will go door-to-door for conducting the survey, for which geo tagging will be used, to enhance its validity.
