NEW DELHI: As the Congress upped ante over its demand for removing the 50 per cent ceiling on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, Union Minister of state for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Friday said that the decision lies with the Central government and it will take a call on the issue.
Speaking to this newspaper, Athawale said that the Supreme Court has set a 50 per cent limit on reservations in jobs and education through various rulings. “There is a guideline of the Supreme Court not to exceed 50 percent reservation .Currently Tamil Nadu has a reservation policy of 69 percent reservation placed under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution in 1994. The government will take a call on removing the 50 percent cap,” he said.
Hailing the Centre’s decision to include caste enumeration in the national Census, the minister said that the caste census was a long standing demand of the Republican Party of India (RPI), an ally of the NDA government. “ I have raised the demand for caste census several occasions in Parliament.
This will provide clear data of the caste –based marginalization and deprivation. ,” he said adding that caste count is the need of the hour because government policies could truly reflect the lived realities of the marginalized communities.
While the Congress asked the government to fix a time frame for the caste enumeration, Athawale said that the past Congress governments failed to take initiative on conducting nationwide caste census.
“Congress governments were in power for a long time. They failed to take any decision on it. This will be the first caste census post Independence as the last caste census was done in 1931,” he said.
Responding to Congress claims that the opposition parties including Congress pressurized the government to take this step, Athawale said,
“Rahul Gandhi always demanded a survey of OBC communities. He never asked for a survey of all castes. My party has always demanded that not only OBCs, but the head count of all castes should be done,” he added.
While there is no clarity on the national census yet, the minister said he is hopeful that the government will announce the Census soon. On the status of Rohini Commission report on sub categorisation of OBCs, he said that the ministry is still studying various aspects of it.
Athawale also ruled out any possibility of caste census leading to social unrest. “The caste census will help the government to study every caste and their educational and social status. It will generate extensive data that can inform better policy-making by identifying the disadvantaged sections of society and implementing affirmative actions,” he said.