THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cabinet meeting held on Wednesday decided to amend the Kerala State Subordinate Services Rules to provide 10 per cent reservation in government jobs to economically backward sections in general category. The decision will come into force from the date on which the notification is issued.
Earlier, the 103rd Constitutional Amendment in 2019 had provided 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the “economically backward” in unreserved category.Following this, the state government had appointed a commission, headed by former Judge K Sasidharan Nair and M Rajagopalan Nair, for deciding the criteria for identifying economically backward sections among forward communities.
The commission had adopted a flexible approach to decide the beneficiaries based on their family income and economic backwardness in society. Considering this report, the cabinet decided to grant 10 per cent reservation for economically backward in the unreserved category.
Salary cut
The cabinet decided to merge the deducted salary of government employees and teachers to tackle the Covid pandemic, in their provident fund on April 1, 2021. The government will incur a financial liability of J2,500 crore if it repays the amount immediately. The employees can withdraw the amount from their PF account from June 1, 2021. The staff will be given interest at PF rate from the date on which the amount is deposited in PF account.
Floor price for vegetables
The cabinet has approved the decision to fix the floor price of sixteen varieties of vegetables from November 1. The floor price will be fixed for tapioca, banana, pineapple, ash gourd, cucumber, bitter gourd, snake gourd, cowpea, tomato, ladies finger, cabbage, carrot, potato, beans, beetroot, and garlic considering their production expense. Through this, farmers will be get a guaranteed price for their produce in proportion to their expense and get the floor price even if the prices of these vegetables crash due to market fluctuations.