New Delhi, December 19
With the 2014 General Election round the corner, the government today asked the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) to give its recommendation on including the Jat community in nine states, including Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, in the Central list of other backward classes (OBCs) for quota in Central government jobs and higher education, at the earliest.
The decision to seek the early view of the NCBC was taken at the meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here. The Union Cabinet considered a proposal of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and held that the NCBC should reconsider its earlier decision of not conducting a survey of Jats in the country.
In other decisions the Cabinet also approved India’s stand at the ninth Ministerial Conference of the WTO held recently in Bali and also decided to give state-owned miner Coal India Ltd a licence to produce natural gas from coal seams in its existing mines.
The NCBC had been conducting a study on the issue and now the government has asked its views for including Jats from nine states, which include, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Bihar in the Central OBC list. In a statement issued here, the government said that Jats were already included in the State List of OBCs in nine states.
Formal reports of the state Backward Class Commissions on the subject for the states
of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and books relating to socio-economic status of farming communities in northern India and caste, land and political power in Uttar Pradesh are available.
These may contain valuable and relevant material which can be utilised by the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) to give its advice on the demand for inclusion of Jats in the Central List of OBCs.
A Group of Ministers (GoM), which was formed earlier this year to engage with the Jat community, had adviced the Cabinet to seek the views of the NCBC on the matter.
This decision will enable the Jat Community to avail the benefits of reservation available to the Other Backward Classes for employment/admission in/to Central Government services and posts/educational institutions.
