Post by satyendragurjar on Jul 10, 2008 22:54:30 GMT 5.5
AYANGAAR COMMITTEE (1950) RECOMMENDED ST STATUS FOR “CHAUKIDAR MEENA" OF FEW DISTRICTS OF RAJASTHAN, MAINLY BECAUSE THEY (ONLY CHAUKIDAR MEENA) WERE DECLARED AS “CHRIMINAL TRIBE" BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.
Gujars were also included in the same criminal tribe list framed under the Criminal Tribes Act,1871 but were denied ST status, reasons best known to the policy makers.
KAKA KALELKAR (1955) IN THE REPORT OF FIRST BACKWARD CLASS COMMISSION RECOMMENDED “BACKWARD CLASS" STATUS TO MEENAS AS “AGRICULTURISTS AND WATCHMAN," RESIDING OUTSIDE ALWAR, BUNDI, BHARATPUR AND DHOLPUR.
BUT LATER MEENAS MANIPULATED IN GUISE OF “BHIL-MINA" AND MANAGED TO GET INCLUDED IN THE ST LIST.
The same KAKA KALELKAR (1955) Commission also recommended “MOST BACKWARD CLASS" status to Gujars residing in the then state of Ajmer as “cowherds and graziers”. But somehow whereas all the divisions of Mina community were included in Scheduled Tribe category in 1955, Gujars were not given ANY STATUS……..!
Lokur Committee (1965) rejected claim of Gujars of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh for inclusion in the ST list. But in para 47 of the Lokur Committee’s report following important remark were made:
“There are some communities which, though not strictly eligible to be treated as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, deserve special assistance. It would not be sufficient to treat them merely as ‘Other Backward Classes’. The communities which we have in mind are the Gujjar, Gaddi and Banjara communities.”
But later the Gujars of Jammu and kashmir were given Scheduled Tribe status in 1991.Similarly in Himachal Pradesh, Gujars of all the districts have been given ST status. In Uttarakhand Gujars are found in theRajaji National park who are semi nomadic and rear buffalos for their livelihood. The Uttar Pradesh Government has already recommended ST status to the (van)Gujars of Rajaji National Park way back in 1994.
On 25 may 1976, Gujar community of Rajasthan first raised their demand for Scheduled Tribe Status at Dholpur(Rajasthan) and presented a Memorandum to Home Minister of India Sh Brahma Nand Reddy(sent by Mrs Indira Gandhi to represent Central Govt / Congress Party) and Chief Minister of Rajasthan Sh. Hari Dev Joshi .The Home Minister asked the state Government to have this demand vetted legally and advise the Centre accordingly.
But surprising to note in 1981, in response to the report asked by the Social welfare department of the Government of India, the Shiv Charan Mathur led state Government sent negative report of Gujars of Rajasthan. (This fact was not in knowledge of most of the representatives of Gujar community till recently when the same was published in local news papers by the present state Government).
Gujars of Rajasthan again put up their case for inclusion in the ST list before the Central Government and as a result the Central Government vide its letter dated 03 December, 1999 asked the state Government to give its opinion but the Ashok Gahlot led State Government did not even answer to the various reminders sent by the Central Government during its whole term of 5 years.
In this way the Gujars are being fooled for the last 32 years by the bureaucracy and politicians due to the pressure of powerful and highly influential Meena community of Rajasthan.
The Mandal commission (1979) in its report (at Sr No 55, page 203, Vol. VI) included Gujars as Backward caste in the list of Rajasthan state. As a result the Gujars who were demanding and struggling for ST status, were extended benefits of OBC after implementation of Mandal Commission Report by the V P Singh Government.
It is history now……………but what is surprising to note that Meenas are behaving like they are the only community in the state who can claim on the schemes and reservation policy of the socialist welfare system evolved as per the constitution. The spirit of the constitution and even national tribal policy is that any backward and deprived lot of the society who satisfies the five parameters (primitive traits, shyness of contact, geographical isolation, distinct culture and backwardness ) prescribed by the Central Govt (as suggested by Lokur Committee) may claim their right following the due process (recommendation by the State Government and its clearance by the Registrar General of India and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes). In the last 60 years large no of communities have been included in the SC/ST and OBC list and no one opposed their constitutional demand. Even there is not a single example of opposition by any community of inclusion of another community as SC/ST or OBC.
Meenas are practically the sole beneficiaries of ST reservation in the state. Reservation of ST is population based if any new community is added in the state list, the percentage of reservation will automatically increase from the present 12.5%.
Why Meenas are so frightened with inclusion of any new community when they are far ahead in education and most importantly the process of inclusion of a community as ST and its exclusion from that list, if a community ceases to have the requisite characteristics, is an ongoing process as per clause (2) of Article 342 of the Constitution of India. It is relevant to mention here that 45 new communities were included and 16 communities were excluded from the Scheduled Tribe lists by the Central Government on the basis of recommendations of the State Governments by passing the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Second Amendment) Bill, 2002. The President gave his assent to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Second Amendment) Bill, 2002 on 14th January, 2003 . The Bill, passed during the Winter Session of Parliament ending December 20, 2002, was notified in the Gazette of India as Act No. 10 of the year 2003. The Act came into force with immediate effect.It also included cases involving transfer of communities from the list of Scheduled Castes to that of the list of Scheduled Tribes as they had been wrongly included in the list of Scheduled Castes whereas they belong to Scheduled Tribes category.
Then why Meenas are so much crying when they are the most benefited caste of the reservation system in the whole country. Sixty year was a sufficient period to raise the educational level and increase their share in the Govt jobs. The advancement of Meena community of Eastern Rajasthan can easily seen in every sphere of life be it education, Govt jobs, land holdings, commerce and trade. Even politically they are winning 8 to 12 unreserved assembly seats along with 6 reserved seats. They have given good fight on the symbol of Congress and BJP from Kota and Dausa Loksabha seats as General candidate .(Can a candidate belonging to SC or ST category be in a position to contest or win ‘General or unreserved seat" else where in India).(The idea behind showing the political awareness of Meenas is just to show their advancement and social status). Now they are in a better position in comparison to all STs and most of the OBCs except Jats who were included in the OBC list due to vote bank politics played by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpaee himself during election meeting at Sikar (Rajasthan).
The history of this dispute goes back to 1998-99 when the BJP wanted to attract the Jats to its fold. At that time, it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself who promised OBC status to Jats. The National Democratic Alliance government, which began its tenure in 1999, gave the dominant Jat community OBC status.While the Backward Classes Commission in Rajasthan was yet to determine the status of Jats in the state, Delhi Government"s Commission for Other Backward Classes had not only recommended OBC status for Jats in Delhi but also held the Jats in Rajasthan to be equally deserving of this status( October, 1999). The Delhi Government"s Commission for Other Backward Classes was headed by former BJP MP, Justice (retired) Guman Mal Lodha. Moreover, the findings of the Gurnam Singh Commission in Haryana suggesting that Jats were socially more backward than many of the Scheduled Castes, including those who were traditionally associated with scavenging is nothing but an ugly joke being played by the dominant and politically powerful community in the name of social justice.
The root cause of the recent outburst of Gujjar fury in Rajasthan is traced to the inclusion of Jats in the list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for reservation in Central services in October 1999. Gujjars, who had already been listed under OBCs in the State, then again began to assert their demand for Scheduled Tribe status as they feared Jats would deprive them of their existing share in the OBC quota.
The Centre’s inclusion of the Jats of Rajasthan in the OBC list was a political decision taken with an eye on their votes. The Jats were listed as an OBC through a notification on October 27, 1999, by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government taking favorable advice from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).Even though the BJP government in Rajasthan headed by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had opposed, before the NCBC, the inclusion of Jats in the OBC list.
The political decision ignored the reality of the changing socio-economic environment shortly before and during British rule whereby certain peasant castes became exceptions to the general phenomenon of peasant castes remaining socially backward. The Jats are one such exception who inhabited that part of India where the beneficial effects of British rule for the peasantry were maximally felt – namely, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. The Jats in these areas have all or most of the advantages that derived out of them. They are *Non-subjection to intermediary tenures such as jagirdari and zamindari, which were both socially and economically debilitating for the peasants;
*Residence in areas not under princely rulers or chieftains belonging to other castes, as most of these areas came under direct British rule;
*Availability of dependable irrigation; and
*Accession of political power during the late medieval and modern period.
Most of the princely rulers of the princely states in the area, which outlived the introduction of direct British rule, belonged to the Jat caste,(Bharatpur and Dholpur in case of Rajasthan) and this reinforced the social as well as economic position of the Jat peasantry of such princely states.
Further, the Arya Samaj movement, which was against caste-based inequalities and the varna-based hierarchical order, had a big following in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Among the peasant castes, the Jats, in particular, were strong adherents of this movement. This too gave a positive turn to their attitude and self-esteem and has contributed to a situation in which they were not socially backward in this belt over and above the other socio-historical factors mentioned earlier.
After the effective abolition of jagirdari and zamindari systems, the condition of Jats in Rajasthan further improved to a great extent. That is why Jats were not included in the Mandal Commission’s list for backward classes for Rajasthan. The State simply adopted the Mandal Commission’s list after the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Indra Sawhney case.
The NCBC’s advice had come in for criticism especially because it was contrary to the stand taken before the Commission by the State government and the Rajasthan Backward Classes Commission (RBCC). The State government wanted the NCBC to await the results of a detailed survey of all peasant communities, including Jats, which it had intended to carry out. The NCBC’s answer to this was that it was not fair to keep any community waiting for a decision for such an indefinitely long period in the name of a survey, and that it was difficult to brush aside the feeling of Jats that the survey was being used as a means to deny, or at least to delay, a decision in their case. The NCBC found the State government’s failure to carry out such a survey earlier inexplicable. Did the NCBC fast-track a decision in the case of Jats, as alleged by Satyanarain Singh, former Member-Secretary, RBCC? Satyanarain Singh quit the State Commission following pressure to include Jats in the State OBC list. Later, he filed a writ petition in the Rajasthan High Court challenging the NCBC’s decision. According to him, a sample survey carried out by the State Commission before 1999 had revealed that Jats were not socially and educationally backward. However, as the results of this survey were not made public, its usefulness in determining the social backwardness of Jats remains a mystery.
The NCBC advice noted that nearly six months had passed after the public hearing in the case. Besides, there were fundamental differences in basic premises and perceptions between the NCBC and the RBCC. “The State Commissions and the NCBC are quasi-judicial bodies which operate independently in their respective spheres under their own procedures and any delay on the part of one or a strong prior perception on the part of one cannot be an obstacle in the way of inclusion of any community in the list of backward classes, based on adequate data/information available, by the other,” the NCBC observed.
P.S. Krishnan, former NCBC Member-Secretary and a member of the NCBC Bench that heard the case in 1997, explained that a survey would be required only when socio-historical evidence was found to be inadequate to decide the matter. Answering the criticism that the NCBC did not find evidence of Jats’ educational backwardness or their inadequate representation in the services as required by the relevant constitutional provisions, he said: “Once social backwardness is established, educational backwardness and inadequate representation in the services could be justifiably presumed.”After the Centre’s notification in 1999, the RBCC changed its stance and recommended inclusion of Jats in the State OBC list. The State’s Congress(I) government under Ashok Gehlot amended the OBC list for State services to include Jats of all districts (including Bharatpur and Dholpur), disagreeing with the NCBC’s reasoned advice to the Centre to keep the Jats of these two districts out of the list.
In Rajasthan, the chairman of OBC Commission, Justice R S Verma, had also said that the commission would take several months to complete its survey to determine the status of Jats in the state. Taking umbrage at the Prime Minister Vajpayee’s assurance, Justice R S Verma, who was Chairman of the Backward Class Commission in Rajasthan that was examining whether the Jats qualified to be on the OBC list, resigned from his post. He said that his Commission had become redundant, given the Prime Minister"s open declaration. The Commission was set up by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
According to a petition filed in the Rajasthan High Court, a survey carried out by the State Commission before 1999 revealed that Jats were not socially and educationally backward. No doubt, the 60 lakh-strong Jats - a sizeable part of Rajasthan"s 5.64-crore population is the most advanced peasant class of the state. The rulers of two of the princely state Bharatpur and Dholpur belong to the Jat community. Their social status can be judged by the fact that out of 200 MLAs and 25 MPs elected in the state, Jats have maximum share i.e. 40 MLAs and 7-8 MPs.The representation of Jats in education, professional courses and Government jobs was more than any community in Rajasthan(except Brahmans and Baniyas) incuding Rajputs. After inclusion of Jats as OBC in Rajasthan, they are capturing almost all the posts / seats reserved for OBCs. The competition in Rajasthan’s OBC category has become acute after Jats were included by the Vajpayee government in 1999.
As a result of inclusion of Jats in the OBC list, OBC cut-offs in the state have sometimes crossed the general category cut-off. In this year’s RPSC civil services (preliminary) examination, the general category cut-off, 193.14, was 13 marks below the OBC cut-off. The difference between the OBC and ST cut-offs, however, was 41 marks.
In the 2006 Rajasthan PMT examination, the OBC cut-off was 770, while the general cut-off was 737, at the pre-counselling stage. This was because the RPMT results at the pre-counselling stage make separate lists according to the category the candidate chooses, while the final list is adjusted by considering the top 50 per cent candidates as general category and then filling up the mandated quotas. The state civil services result, however, considers all OBCs as reserved on the grounds that reserved candidates get preferential service allotment
After inclusion of Jats as OBC in Rajasthan, they are capturing almost all the posts / seats reserved for OBCs in the state……….
It is interesting to point out here that the State Government of Jammu and Kashmir has again recommended in June, 2007 inclusion of “Pahari" community in the Scheduled Tribe category to the Central Government on the ground that they share most of the characteristics with Gujars except language.They live in the same area, are economically backward and poor due to very low literacy. Earlier in 2002, the claim of ‘Pahari" community was rejected by the Registrar General of India stating that : “Pahari speaker represent a linguistic group and not an ethnic group like Gujars; Pahari include people from different castes and religious communities who are at different levels of socio-economic development.
In above mentioned three different situations I have tried to point out different response of the Government machinery as per its convenience and the political masters’ action influenced by the equation of vote bank…………..
No doubt Gujars are at fault …………..because they are not so shrewd and educated……..and most importantly they are politically weak as compared to others…….
The issue is not one of reservation alone; it is a question of dealing with huge segments of the population that have been neglected for years. The agitation reflects resentment at that social and economic neglect also……..
Gujars were also included in the same criminal tribe list framed under the Criminal Tribes Act,1871 but were denied ST status, reasons best known to the policy makers.
KAKA KALELKAR (1955) IN THE REPORT OF FIRST BACKWARD CLASS COMMISSION RECOMMENDED “BACKWARD CLASS" STATUS TO MEENAS AS “AGRICULTURISTS AND WATCHMAN," RESIDING OUTSIDE ALWAR, BUNDI, BHARATPUR AND DHOLPUR.
BUT LATER MEENAS MANIPULATED IN GUISE OF “BHIL-MINA" AND MANAGED TO GET INCLUDED IN THE ST LIST.
The same KAKA KALELKAR (1955) Commission also recommended “MOST BACKWARD CLASS" status to Gujars residing in the then state of Ajmer as “cowherds and graziers”. But somehow whereas all the divisions of Mina community were included in Scheduled Tribe category in 1955, Gujars were not given ANY STATUS……..!
Lokur Committee (1965) rejected claim of Gujars of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh for inclusion in the ST list. But in para 47 of the Lokur Committee’s report following important remark were made:
“There are some communities which, though not strictly eligible to be treated as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, deserve special assistance. It would not be sufficient to treat them merely as ‘Other Backward Classes’. The communities which we have in mind are the Gujjar, Gaddi and Banjara communities.”
But later the Gujars of Jammu and kashmir were given Scheduled Tribe status in 1991.Similarly in Himachal Pradesh, Gujars of all the districts have been given ST status. In Uttarakhand Gujars are found in theRajaji National park who are semi nomadic and rear buffalos for their livelihood. The Uttar Pradesh Government has already recommended ST status to the (van)Gujars of Rajaji National Park way back in 1994.
On 25 may 1976, Gujar community of Rajasthan first raised their demand for Scheduled Tribe Status at Dholpur(Rajasthan) and presented a Memorandum to Home Minister of India Sh Brahma Nand Reddy(sent by Mrs Indira Gandhi to represent Central Govt / Congress Party) and Chief Minister of Rajasthan Sh. Hari Dev Joshi .The Home Minister asked the state Government to have this demand vetted legally and advise the Centre accordingly.
But surprising to note in 1981, in response to the report asked by the Social welfare department of the Government of India, the Shiv Charan Mathur led state Government sent negative report of Gujars of Rajasthan. (This fact was not in knowledge of most of the representatives of Gujar community till recently when the same was published in local news papers by the present state Government).
Gujars of Rajasthan again put up their case for inclusion in the ST list before the Central Government and as a result the Central Government vide its letter dated 03 December, 1999 asked the state Government to give its opinion but the Ashok Gahlot led State Government did not even answer to the various reminders sent by the Central Government during its whole term of 5 years.
In this way the Gujars are being fooled for the last 32 years by the bureaucracy and politicians due to the pressure of powerful and highly influential Meena community of Rajasthan.
The Mandal commission (1979) in its report (at Sr No 55, page 203, Vol. VI) included Gujars as Backward caste in the list of Rajasthan state. As a result the Gujars who were demanding and struggling for ST status, were extended benefits of OBC after implementation of Mandal Commission Report by the V P Singh Government.
It is history now……………but what is surprising to note that Meenas are behaving like they are the only community in the state who can claim on the schemes and reservation policy of the socialist welfare system evolved as per the constitution. The spirit of the constitution and even national tribal policy is that any backward and deprived lot of the society who satisfies the five parameters (primitive traits, shyness of contact, geographical isolation, distinct culture and backwardness ) prescribed by the Central Govt (as suggested by Lokur Committee) may claim their right following the due process (recommendation by the State Government and its clearance by the Registrar General of India and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes). In the last 60 years large no of communities have been included in the SC/ST and OBC list and no one opposed their constitutional demand. Even there is not a single example of opposition by any community of inclusion of another community as SC/ST or OBC.
Meenas are practically the sole beneficiaries of ST reservation in the state. Reservation of ST is population based if any new community is added in the state list, the percentage of reservation will automatically increase from the present 12.5%.
Why Meenas are so frightened with inclusion of any new community when they are far ahead in education and most importantly the process of inclusion of a community as ST and its exclusion from that list, if a community ceases to have the requisite characteristics, is an ongoing process as per clause (2) of Article 342 of the Constitution of India. It is relevant to mention here that 45 new communities were included and 16 communities were excluded from the Scheduled Tribe lists by the Central Government on the basis of recommendations of the State Governments by passing the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Second Amendment) Bill, 2002. The President gave his assent to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Second Amendment) Bill, 2002 on 14th January, 2003 . The Bill, passed during the Winter Session of Parliament ending December 20, 2002, was notified in the Gazette of India as Act No. 10 of the year 2003. The Act came into force with immediate effect.It also included cases involving transfer of communities from the list of Scheduled Castes to that of the list of Scheduled Tribes as they had been wrongly included in the list of Scheduled Castes whereas they belong to Scheduled Tribes category.
Then why Meenas are so much crying when they are the most benefited caste of the reservation system in the whole country. Sixty year was a sufficient period to raise the educational level and increase their share in the Govt jobs. The advancement of Meena community of Eastern Rajasthan can easily seen in every sphere of life be it education, Govt jobs, land holdings, commerce and trade. Even politically they are winning 8 to 12 unreserved assembly seats along with 6 reserved seats. They have given good fight on the symbol of Congress and BJP from Kota and Dausa Loksabha seats as General candidate .(Can a candidate belonging to SC or ST category be in a position to contest or win ‘General or unreserved seat" else where in India).(The idea behind showing the political awareness of Meenas is just to show their advancement and social status). Now they are in a better position in comparison to all STs and most of the OBCs except Jats who were included in the OBC list due to vote bank politics played by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpaee himself during election meeting at Sikar (Rajasthan).
The history of this dispute goes back to 1998-99 when the BJP wanted to attract the Jats to its fold. At that time, it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself who promised OBC status to Jats. The National Democratic Alliance government, which began its tenure in 1999, gave the dominant Jat community OBC status.While the Backward Classes Commission in Rajasthan was yet to determine the status of Jats in the state, Delhi Government"s Commission for Other Backward Classes had not only recommended OBC status for Jats in Delhi but also held the Jats in Rajasthan to be equally deserving of this status( October, 1999). The Delhi Government"s Commission for Other Backward Classes was headed by former BJP MP, Justice (retired) Guman Mal Lodha. Moreover, the findings of the Gurnam Singh Commission in Haryana suggesting that Jats were socially more backward than many of the Scheduled Castes, including those who were traditionally associated with scavenging is nothing but an ugly joke being played by the dominant and politically powerful community in the name of social justice.
The root cause of the recent outburst of Gujjar fury in Rajasthan is traced to the inclusion of Jats in the list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for reservation in Central services in October 1999. Gujjars, who had already been listed under OBCs in the State, then again began to assert their demand for Scheduled Tribe status as they feared Jats would deprive them of their existing share in the OBC quota.
The Centre’s inclusion of the Jats of Rajasthan in the OBC list was a political decision taken with an eye on their votes. The Jats were listed as an OBC through a notification on October 27, 1999, by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government taking favorable advice from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).Even though the BJP government in Rajasthan headed by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had opposed, before the NCBC, the inclusion of Jats in the OBC list.
The political decision ignored the reality of the changing socio-economic environment shortly before and during British rule whereby certain peasant castes became exceptions to the general phenomenon of peasant castes remaining socially backward. The Jats are one such exception who inhabited that part of India where the beneficial effects of British rule for the peasantry were maximally felt – namely, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. The Jats in these areas have all or most of the advantages that derived out of them. They are *Non-subjection to intermediary tenures such as jagirdari and zamindari, which were both socially and economically debilitating for the peasants;
*Residence in areas not under princely rulers or chieftains belonging to other castes, as most of these areas came under direct British rule;
*Availability of dependable irrigation; and
*Accession of political power during the late medieval and modern period.
Most of the princely rulers of the princely states in the area, which outlived the introduction of direct British rule, belonged to the Jat caste,(Bharatpur and Dholpur in case of Rajasthan) and this reinforced the social as well as economic position of the Jat peasantry of such princely states.
Further, the Arya Samaj movement, which was against caste-based inequalities and the varna-based hierarchical order, had a big following in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Among the peasant castes, the Jats, in particular, were strong adherents of this movement. This too gave a positive turn to their attitude and self-esteem and has contributed to a situation in which they were not socially backward in this belt over and above the other socio-historical factors mentioned earlier.
After the effective abolition of jagirdari and zamindari systems, the condition of Jats in Rajasthan further improved to a great extent. That is why Jats were not included in the Mandal Commission’s list for backward classes for Rajasthan. The State simply adopted the Mandal Commission’s list after the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Indra Sawhney case.
The NCBC’s advice had come in for criticism especially because it was contrary to the stand taken before the Commission by the State government and the Rajasthan Backward Classes Commission (RBCC). The State government wanted the NCBC to await the results of a detailed survey of all peasant communities, including Jats, which it had intended to carry out. The NCBC’s answer to this was that it was not fair to keep any community waiting for a decision for such an indefinitely long period in the name of a survey, and that it was difficult to brush aside the feeling of Jats that the survey was being used as a means to deny, or at least to delay, a decision in their case. The NCBC found the State government’s failure to carry out such a survey earlier inexplicable. Did the NCBC fast-track a decision in the case of Jats, as alleged by Satyanarain Singh, former Member-Secretary, RBCC? Satyanarain Singh quit the State Commission following pressure to include Jats in the State OBC list. Later, he filed a writ petition in the Rajasthan High Court challenging the NCBC’s decision. According to him, a sample survey carried out by the State Commission before 1999 had revealed that Jats were not socially and educationally backward. However, as the results of this survey were not made public, its usefulness in determining the social backwardness of Jats remains a mystery.
The NCBC advice noted that nearly six months had passed after the public hearing in the case. Besides, there were fundamental differences in basic premises and perceptions between the NCBC and the RBCC. “The State Commissions and the NCBC are quasi-judicial bodies which operate independently in their respective spheres under their own procedures and any delay on the part of one or a strong prior perception on the part of one cannot be an obstacle in the way of inclusion of any community in the list of backward classes, based on adequate data/information available, by the other,” the NCBC observed.
P.S. Krishnan, former NCBC Member-Secretary and a member of the NCBC Bench that heard the case in 1997, explained that a survey would be required only when socio-historical evidence was found to be inadequate to decide the matter. Answering the criticism that the NCBC did not find evidence of Jats’ educational backwardness or their inadequate representation in the services as required by the relevant constitutional provisions, he said: “Once social backwardness is established, educational backwardness and inadequate representation in the services could be justifiably presumed.”After the Centre’s notification in 1999, the RBCC changed its stance and recommended inclusion of Jats in the State OBC list. The State’s Congress(I) government under Ashok Gehlot amended the OBC list for State services to include Jats of all districts (including Bharatpur and Dholpur), disagreeing with the NCBC’s reasoned advice to the Centre to keep the Jats of these two districts out of the list.
In Rajasthan, the chairman of OBC Commission, Justice R S Verma, had also said that the commission would take several months to complete its survey to determine the status of Jats in the state. Taking umbrage at the Prime Minister Vajpayee’s assurance, Justice R S Verma, who was Chairman of the Backward Class Commission in Rajasthan that was examining whether the Jats qualified to be on the OBC list, resigned from his post. He said that his Commission had become redundant, given the Prime Minister"s open declaration. The Commission was set up by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
According to a petition filed in the Rajasthan High Court, a survey carried out by the State Commission before 1999 revealed that Jats were not socially and educationally backward. No doubt, the 60 lakh-strong Jats - a sizeable part of Rajasthan"s 5.64-crore population is the most advanced peasant class of the state. The rulers of two of the princely state Bharatpur and Dholpur belong to the Jat community. Their social status can be judged by the fact that out of 200 MLAs and 25 MPs elected in the state, Jats have maximum share i.e. 40 MLAs and 7-8 MPs.The representation of Jats in education, professional courses and Government jobs was more than any community in Rajasthan(except Brahmans and Baniyas) incuding Rajputs. After inclusion of Jats as OBC in Rajasthan, they are capturing almost all the posts / seats reserved for OBCs. The competition in Rajasthan’s OBC category has become acute after Jats were included by the Vajpayee government in 1999.
As a result of inclusion of Jats in the OBC list, OBC cut-offs in the state have sometimes crossed the general category cut-off. In this year’s RPSC civil services (preliminary) examination, the general category cut-off, 193.14, was 13 marks below the OBC cut-off. The difference between the OBC and ST cut-offs, however, was 41 marks.
In the 2006 Rajasthan PMT examination, the OBC cut-off was 770, while the general cut-off was 737, at the pre-counselling stage. This was because the RPMT results at the pre-counselling stage make separate lists according to the category the candidate chooses, while the final list is adjusted by considering the top 50 per cent candidates as general category and then filling up the mandated quotas. The state civil services result, however, considers all OBCs as reserved on the grounds that reserved candidates get preferential service allotment
After inclusion of Jats as OBC in Rajasthan, they are capturing almost all the posts / seats reserved for OBCs in the state……….
It is interesting to point out here that the State Government of Jammu and Kashmir has again recommended in June, 2007 inclusion of “Pahari" community in the Scheduled Tribe category to the Central Government on the ground that they share most of the characteristics with Gujars except language.They live in the same area, are economically backward and poor due to very low literacy. Earlier in 2002, the claim of ‘Pahari" community was rejected by the Registrar General of India stating that : “Pahari speaker represent a linguistic group and not an ethnic group like Gujars; Pahari include people from different castes and religious communities who are at different levels of socio-economic development.
In above mentioned three different situations I have tried to point out different response of the Government machinery as per its convenience and the political masters’ action influenced by the equation of vote bank…………..
No doubt Gujars are at fault …………..because they are not so shrewd and educated……..and most importantly they are politically weak as compared to others…….
The issue is not one of reservation alone; it is a question of dealing with huge segments of the population that have been neglected for years. The agitation reflects resentment at that social and economic neglect also……..
