Mumbai : The State Government will soon decide on the percentage of reservation to be given to the Marathas, who have been demanding quota in jobs and education.
On his part, Industries Minister Narayan Rane specified that there was no move to give any political reservation to Marathas and Muslims.
“These reservations are only for education and jobs, not for politics or any other sector”, Rane said, adding that, “The majority of Maratha community is poor and working class. People misunderstand looking at few powerful ministers thinking the whole community is as much wealthy and connected. There are far too many unemployed youth of this community and this does add burden to the economy.”
As per policy, Marathas are likely to get 10 per cent reservation.
The Democratic Front government of Congress-Nationalist Congress Party has adopted the Tamil Nadu model, where the caste-based reservations are up to 69%. Congress-NCP leaders hope this reservation would increase by 14%.
However, a Supreme Court order has restricted the quotas to 50%. “We have taken legal advice and in fact we have lawyers with us as we finalise this quota policy,” a minister said.
Neeta Kolhatkar
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