Hyderabad: The ongoing Patel agitation in Gujarat, demanding reservations, has impacted the Telugu states too. Various organisations belonging to Other Castes (OCs) are joining hands to launch similar agitation programmes demanding reservations in education and employment.
These organisations have decided to hold an “Other Castes Maha Dharna” in Hyderabad in September to press for their demands.
They complain that OC candidates in Telangana and AP are not getting jobs and admissions despite securing merit in exams due to reservations being given to others.
The organisations are worried over the TS government’s plans to increase reservations for Muslims and STs to 12 per cent by seeking special permission from the Supreme Court.
The reservations in the two Telugu states have already touched 50 per cent and in line with the SC’s prescribed upper ceiling of 50 per cent.
Currently, 15 per cent reservations are being provided to Scheduled Castes, 6 per cent to Scheduled Tribes, 25 per cent to Backward Classes and 4 per cent to Muslim minorities in both the states, taking the total quota to 50 per cent.
The TS government is actively considering increasing the reservations for Muslims and STs to 12 per cent by taking SC’s special permission on the grounds of social and economic backwardness among these communities and has even appointed a Commission of Inquiry to study this and make recommendations by the end of this year.
“If that happens, the quota will increase to 64 per cent. Already, students and unemployed from forward castes, despite topping exams, are not able to secure seats in good colleges or jobs in the government sector due to reservations for others.
“Majority of the OCs languish in poverty. Just because they come from forward castes, they are denied jobs and seats without considering their financial background,” said Mr P. Mahender Reddy, OC Pedala Sangham, representing the economically backward sections in OCs.
