Modified Das panel report to ensure fairness, equality: CM Siddaramaiah
BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday reaffirmed his cabinet decision to modify recommendations of the Justice HN Nagamohan Das Commission for internal reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) by forming three groups -- A, B and C -- among 101 castes to share the 17 per cent quota.
The special cabinet meeting held on Tuesday accepted the Commission’s report and took the decision, following which the CM made the statement in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.
“We have decided to start the recruitment process immediately after the order on internal reservation is issued, and relax the age limit once,” he said. A permanent Scheduled Castes Commission will be constituted to study the mobility of Scheduled Castes and submit a report on their status from time to time, he added.
The CM clarified that the cabinet decided to classify recommendations of the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission that formed five groups as A, B C, D and E into three categories -- A, B nd C -- and allot 6 per cent to Category A (Left-handed castes), 6 per cent to Category B (Right-handed castes) and 5 per cent to Category C (others).
“These changes have been made with a view to ensuring equality and fairness in providing opportunities in education, employment and other matters to all 101 SC castes. The Cabinet has kept in mind principles enshrined in the judgment of the Supreme Court,” Siddaramaiah said. The Commission collected data of 1,05,09,871 people belonging to SCs, covering 93 per cent of their population.
“The Cabinet has examined the report thoroughly and accepted the recommendations with some modifications. We have decided on 6 per cent internal reservation to communities identified as Left-handed castes,” he said.
Noting that the Commission had included Right-handed castes like Paraya, Mogera etc. with Left-handed castes, the cabinet decided to include them with Right-handed castes and provide 6 per cent reservation. “We have distributed the 4,74,954 population of Adi Karnataka, Adi Andhra, Adi Dravida groups equally between Left-handed and Right-handed castes.
Das recommended 4 per cent for Bhovi, Lambani, Koracha and Korama castes, and decided to classify 59 castes with a population of 5,22,099 as Category A, and recommended 1 per cent reservation. Due to technical reasons, we decided to combine these two groups and provide 5 per cent reservation (under C),” he justified.
He said cases against internal reservation activists will be withdrawn. “The government is committed to making changes in decisions taken now, if any... We believe this decision has succeeded in doing justice to the decades-long struggle on internal reservation,” he claimed.