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This is totally surreal: "21st century war: Marathas invade OBC territory...."
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NOTE:
Maratha - the caste of the great Shivaji. Rose to political prominence during the time of the Maratha empire.
OBC - Other Backward Classes. Classes or castes of people who had a stake in village life (say, a piece of land, or some other holding), and thus did not migrate to the cities, and thus remained backward when compared to those classes and castes who did.
PUNE: Will the influential families like Pawars, Deshmukhs and Patils who have always taken pride in calling themselves the "real Marathas"— belonging to the shyahanav kuli clan — switch over to the backward class to reap the benefits of reservation?
This topic is being hotly debated in sociopolitical circles as instances of Marathas getting into the other backward class (OBC) are on the rise among political workers.
Ironically, the debate focuses only on the political aspects of the issue as scores of newly-elected corporators of all municipal corporations across the state face a possible disqualification as their move to opt for the OBC category has been challenged in the Bombay high court.
Krishnakant Kudale, a senior OBC leader and also the state general secretary of NCP, said, "No one is trying to foresee the serious social implications. The reservation policy will go for a toss. Our OBC quota in schools and jobs will be eaten up by the majority community."
On June 1, 2004, the state government carried out a "minor amendment" to the list of castes that have been granted the OBC status. The Kunbis, a farmer's community from the Konkan area, was listed among the OBC in the original caste reservation list.
While retaining the OBC status for Kunbis, the state also added the term "Kunbi-Maratha"in the OBC list by enacting the said amendment. In the last two years, not many recognised the importance of this amendment.
Now that reservations have reached their theoretical limit - 50% of all seats are not allotted based on caste, not merit, and this is the maximum the constitution allows - the fights will not be to get reservations increased, but to get a share of the existing pie. 22.5% are for the SCs and STs (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes), who are strictly defined, so you can't grab those. The remaining 27.5% are for a very vaguely defined group called the OBCs (anybody can be an OBC if they get the political clout). The fight is for this bit.
It's surreal. Everyone is fighting to prove themselves. And the prize? The title of "The Most Backward, Ever!!!" It's a race to the bottom. It's also quite comic, actually. The country is progressing, social indicators are on the rise, everything is getting slowly better, but the number of backwards is exponentially going up!
Thankfully, it can't get any worse - reservations have reached their maximum limit of 50%. The rest of the 50% is on merit.
Luckily for me, Brahmins are only 2% to 5% of the total population. Plenty of space in that 50%.
NOTE:
Maratha - the caste of the great Shivaji. Rose to political prominence during the time of the Maratha empire.
OBC - Other Backward Classes. Classes or castes of people who had a stake in village life (say, a piece of land, or some other holding), and thus did not migrate to the cities, and thus remained backward when compared to those classes and castes who did.
PUNE: Will the influential families like Pawars, Deshmukhs and Patils who have always taken pride in calling themselves the "real Marathas"— belonging to the shyahanav kuli clan — switch over to the backward class to reap the benefits of reservation?
This topic is being hotly debated in sociopolitical circles as instances of Marathas getting into the other backward class (OBC) are on the rise among political workers.
Ironically, the debate focuses only on the political aspects of the issue as scores of newly-elected corporators of all municipal corporations across the state face a possible disqualification as their move to opt for the OBC category has been challenged in the Bombay high court.
Krishnakant Kudale, a senior OBC leader and also the state general secretary of NCP, said, "No one is trying to foresee the serious social implications. The reservation policy will go for a toss. Our OBC quota in schools and jobs will be eaten up by the majority community."
On June 1, 2004, the state government carried out a "minor amendment" to the list of castes that have been granted the OBC status. The Kunbis, a farmer's community from the Konkan area, was listed among the OBC in the original caste reservation list.
While retaining the OBC status for Kunbis, the state also added the term "Kunbi-Maratha"in the OBC list by enacting the said amendment. In the last two years, not many recognised the importance of this amendment.
It's surreal. Everyone is fighting to prove themselves. And the prize? The title of "The Most Backward, Ever!!!" It's a race to the bottom. It's also quite comic, actually. The country is progressing, social indicators are on the rise, everything is getting slowly better, but the number of backwards is exponentially going up!
Thankfully, it can't get any worse - reservations have reached their maximum limit of 50%. The rest of the 50% is on merit.
Luckily for me, Brahmins are only 2% to 5% of the total population. Plenty of space in that 50%.
You should be very accustomed to such a society : party boss; party boss minions; the nomenklatura; higher party leaders; lower party leaders; members of the party, and in the bottom non members
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