BC panel says Marathas and Kunbis are not separate castes

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On 30 November 2018, the Maharashtra state legislature passed a bill allotting a 16% quota in government jobs and education to the “socially and educationally backward” Marathas.

The report that the Backward Class Panel had prepared based on its study, was handed over to the petitioners. They had challenged the decision to grant the reservation in the Bombay High Court.

Seven decades ago, in 1942, the Bombay government issued a government resolution (GR) with a list of backward classes that included the Maratha community. The GR included Marathas as an intermediate class for education purpose. However, in 1950, the union government prepared a list of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Communities (OBCs).

The report stated that the Maratha caste, present in the 1942 list, disappeared from the 1950 list. In 1966, the state government modified the list and included Kunbi in the OBC list.

The commission opined that the Maratha and Kunbi castes were not separate – they were one and same. It clarified that Maratha is not a caste, but refers to the Marathi speaking people. The caste of such people is Kunbi, who were agriculturists.

The panel said that the Maratha community is socially, economically and educationally backward and should be classified as ‘Backward class”.