Chhattisgarh’s Congress govt hikes SC quota to 13%, says it’s in proportion to population

The Congress government in Chhattisgarh has decided to increase reservation for Scheduled Castes in educational institutions and government jobs by a percentage point to 13% from 12%.
The government has termed this decision as correcting the “wrong” done by the previous BJP government in the state. “The Scheduled Castes in Chhattisgarh will now get reservation in proportion to their population,” chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said. “We are correcting a wrong decision of the Raman Singh government.”

At present, SCs have 12% reservation in Chhattisgarh. SCs make up about 12.8% of Chhattisgarh’s estimated 25.6 million population.

In January 2012, through an executive order, the state government had reduced the reservation of the SC community to 12% from 16% while increasing the reservation for STs to 32%. The reservation for OBCs has remained at 14%.

“This has been a long pending demand and the government has taken the decision to give SCs their right,” an official in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) told ET.

The total percentage of reservation in the state would now go up to 59% from 58%. The move is being seen by political opponents as an attempt to woo the Dalits in the state. Mayawati’s BSP had fought the 2018 assembly elections in alliance with Ajit Jogi’s Janta Congress Chhattisgarh. While BSP had increased its seat tally from one to two, JCC had cornered five seats.

Even as it has taken a call to increase reservation for SCs, the Chhattisgarh government has refused to introduce 10% quota for economically weaker sections (EWS), which has been introduced by the BJP government at the Centre through a constitutional amendment in January this year. “We need to study 10% quota for EWS minutely,” a Chhattisgarh government spokesperson told ET. “The last caste census took place in 1932. We do not know how castes have grown numerically in recent times. So far, there has been no decision to introduce it.”

The Chhattisgarh government is now maintaining that upper castes in the state are less than 10%.

“We do not know the exact numbers but they are definitely not more than 7-8%. So, why should we deprive the more needy SCs and STs, who are more numerous in Chhattisgarh, of reservation benefits?” said the spokesperson.