Mr Athawale also urged the state to clear the backlog of about 9,000 government jobs for the differently-abled.
Thiruvananthapuram: Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale has urged all political parties to press for economic reservation for all communities. Mr Athawale, who was in the state on Thursday to review centrally-aided schemes, also urged the state to clear the backlog of about 9,000 government jobs for the differently-abled. Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Athwale said that he would personally press for economic reservation to members of all communities with an annual family income below Rs 8 lakh but without changing the existing reservation for SC, ST and OBC categories.
“It is my party’s view to extend economic reservation to all communities considering the demand from prominent communities in many states. In order to attain this, the centre needs to amend the norm that reservations should not cross 50 percent. It needs to be enhanced to 75 percent,” said Mr. Athwale, who is the leader of the Republican Party of India. Mr. Athawale said that even as the centre enhanced the reservation for the differently-abled, in Kerala only 11,000 differently-abled persons received its benefits for recruitment to government services, whereas it should have been about 20,000. “He added the centre was in the process of granting deemed university status to the National Institute of Speech and Hearing here.
