MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Cabinet on Wednesday decided to award one per cent reservation in jobs to orphans.“The one per cent reservation for orphans will not affect other communities benefiting from quotas. It will be introduced within the open category to help orphans get education and employment, especially in government services,” Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde said after a Cabinet meeting.
“The orphans don’t know their castes. This might create problems for them while completing education or finding employment, as they have to be on their own on completing 18 years of age. When Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was apprised of this problem by an orphan girl (Amrita Karavande) who was trying to crack the Maharashtra Public Service Commission examination, he came up with this idea of reservation for them,” Munde added.
It so happened that a few candidates who had scored less than Amrita Karavande got into the merit list because of reservation. Upon realising this, Amrita wrote to Fadnavis and met him to urge him that the government should look into the problems faced by orphans.The Cabinet took the decision on reservation for orphans just a fortnight after Amrita Karvande met the chief minister.