Mumbai: On the day Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil started his march to Mumbai on foot, the State Backward Commission reasserted that it will conduct from January 23 a community survey on a war footing to check social, economical and educational backwardness. For this, two key state institutes have been roped in for training, while one would be engaged in authenticating the family trees to issue Kunbi certificates.
Nearly 2.5 crore Maratha, non-Maratha families to be surveyed
Nearly 2.5 crore Maratha and non-Maratha families will be surveyed until January 31 with help from Gokhale Institute of Police and Economics in Pune and International Institute of Population Sciences in Mumbai. The survey will be conducted by personnel working in three shifts and tehsildars and other local level officers will submit a daily report.
To issue Kunbi certificates, which Jarange-Patil has been demanding for all members of the community, there is a need for family tree information and old records. To resolve this problem, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has directed the administration to take help from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute, with experts on Modi script (old Marathi script).
Over 1.47 lakh Kunbi caste certificates have been issued
The state government has claimed that from October 2023 over 1.47 lakh Kunbi caste certificates have been issued; 32,000 records were found only in Marathwada and among them 18,600 have received the certificates.
At the meeting with Shinde on January 20, retired High Court justices Dilip Bhosale, Maroti Gaikwad and Sandip Shinde were present. Also present were upper chief secretary of revenue department Rajgopal Deora, principal secretary of CM Vikas Kharge, principal secretary of urban development department Dr KH Govind Raj, and secretary of OBC department Anshu Sinha.
Ajit Ranade of Gokhale Institute informed Shinde that 1.25 lakh teachers, gram sevaks, anganwadi sevika and talathi are being trained to finish the survey within eight days. Shinde directed Ranade to maintain all the records well as there’s a need to rectify the shortcomings of Justice MG Gaikwad commission 2018 report, which reportedly is the most reliable document thus far. Shinde has said that the survey should be precisely recorded.
During the meeting, Shinde said that the state will give reservation within the framework of law and appealed to the administration to put out all the stops and work with the feeling of social responsibility.
