A meeting of the Telangana Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, on Saturday afternoon was said to have cleared 12% reservation for Muslims and 10% for the Scheduled Tribes, in relation to their population.
The same would be incorporated in the Telangana State Reservation Bill to be introduced in special sessions of both the Houses of the legislature on Sunday.
Poll promise
The decision of the government to extend 12 per cent reservation to Muslims was in tune with the promise of the ruling TRS in its election manifesto. It also conforms to the 12.68 per cent population of the community in the State. The manifesto also promised 12 per cent reservation for the STs but the tribals accounted for only 9.08 per cent of the total population.
It will be a 7 percentage point hike for Muslims as the community already enjoys 5 per cent reservation in listed Backward Classes of the State under group `E’ though the matter is pending in the Supreme Court.
In the case of the STs, however, the increase will be 4 percentage points, up from the present 6 per cent, but the population is only 9.08 per cent. Sources said the quota was rounded off to 10 per cent on the presumption that the State government’s efforts to include the Kaithi Lambadas and the Boya Valmikis in the ST category would succeed.
The government is going ahead with 12 per cent reservation for Muslims backed by the recommendations of the State Backward Classes Commission and the Sudhir commission that the quota for the community could be in the range of 9 to 12 per cent.
A large group of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists were rounded up by the police when they went to the Chief Minister’s camp office, where the Cabinet meeting took place, to protest against the hike in reservation.
Apart from the Reservation Bill, the Assembly will also take up the State specific Goods and Services Tax Bill and the Telangana State Heritage Bill, incorporating heritage status for all structures in the State.
