Nanded: The Maratha community has been struggling for a long period to get the Kunbi sanction for the Marathas. The struggle has recently gained partial success. The state government had already started the scrutiny of the records for searching the Kunbi records in the Nanded district. Out of the total 1,559 villages in the district, only 1,750 Kunbi records were found in 105 villages. Based on these records, the administration has issued 4,307 Kunbi certificates in the district so far.
The state government has released a GR to implement the Hyderabad Gazetteer, due to which the way to provide Kunbi certificates to the Marathas has been cleared. Historically, Nanded district was under the regime of Nizam rule of Hyderabad.
Hence, the Hyderabad Gazetteer can prove to be a strong document for providing Kunbi status to the Marathas. It is clearly mentioned in the Gazetteer that 'Kunbi' is the alternative term for 'farmer'. Hence, it is now possible that thousands of Marathas may get Kunbi certificates on this basis.
A committee led by Justice Sandeep Shinde has already started the work to find the Kunbi records in the documents in the Marathwada region. The committee has found 1,750 Kunbi records in 105 villages, and based on them, 4,307 Kunbi certificates have been issued. Of which, the caste verification of only 40 certificates has been completed so far, and several are pending even now.
