The activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Saturday urged the government to issue Kunbi caste certificates to all Marathas in the state on the basis of 5,000 entries found in Marathwada villages that put them in the OBC category.
Kunbis fall under the OBC category, which encompasses more than 400 macro and micro castes in the state.
On August 29 Jarange-Patil, who is currently touring the state, had initiated an indefinite fast to demand Kunbi certificates for all Marathas in Marathwada.
Giving in to his demand, the government said earlier this month that it would provide the certificates to Marathas from Marathwada who possess Nizam-era documents, which recognised them as Kunbis.
The government then sent a team of officials from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar to Hyderabad, where they examined old records. However, they returned empty-handed.
The team then examined around one crore records in district headquarters of Marathwada and found just 5,000 entries that referred to the Maratha as Kunbis. The activist’s latest demand comes on the basis of this development.
District-wise break
District Records checked Maratha-Kunbis
Beed 10,22,569 1,740
Sambhajinagar 15,16,819 299
Jalna 13,00,000 2000
Latur 22,51,716 47
Parbhani 7,22,299 05
Nandes 16,40,000 150
Hingoli 12,88,000 18
Dharashiv 18,51,005 356
