All eyes are on Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s decision on implementing the 10.5% internal reservation for Vanniyakula Kshatriyas within the 20% quota for the Most Backward Classes (MBCs) in education and employment in government services, with the Supreme Court refusing to stay the operation of the law.
The Chief Minister’s move is being keenly watched as admissions to undergraduate courses are expected to begin in a month.
When asked whether the government would begin enforcing the law, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudi and Minister for Backward Classes Welfare S.S. Sivasankar referred to Mr. Stalin’s statement in the Assembly last month. During a debate on the motion of thanks to Governor Banwarilal Purohit for his address to the House, the Chief Minister told PMK floor leader G.K. Mani that a “good decision” will be taken after consulting the officials of the departments concerned.
Also called the Special Reservation Act of 2021, the law got the Governor’s assent on the day the Bill was passed by the House on February 26, which was just before the Election Commission's announcement on the poll schedule for five States, including Tamil Nadu.
Apart from carving out 10.5% for the Vanniyakula Kshatriyas, the law distributed the remaining portion of the quota for the MBCs and Denotified Communities (DNCs) among two groups — 7% for 25 MBCs and 68 DNCs and 2.5% for the remaining 22 MBCs. The Act has mentioned seven sub-castes under the entry ‘Vanniyakula Kshatriya’.
A former official of the State government, who has been studying the subject of internal reservation for the Vanniyars for years, feels that if the government chooses to enforce the law, it marks an “acknowledgement of the community’s identity”.
Despite the community’s representatives demanding a higher share, the previous AIADMK regime went by the quantum — 10.5% — that was mentioned in the recommendation made to the government in 2012 by M.S. Janarthanam, the then Chairman of the State Backward Classes Commission, and this was cited by his successor M. Thanikachalam while providing his opinion on the matter.
The former official added that the new scheme of internal reservation would be more beneficial to the community in education than in employment.
