Body tasked to survey ‘real’ Marathas adopts new approach

The Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes in India will conduct a survey of the Maratha community to determine their eligibility for reservation in jobs and education. The survey will focus on changes in living conditions over the past 10 to 15 years, including education, literacy rates, superstitions, and poverty levels. The survey is expected to be completed within a month and will be conducted by the Pune-based Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.

MUMBAI/ PUNE

Manoj Jarange-Patil has held rallies in various parts of the state to push the demand to include all Marathas in the OBC category by issuing them Kunbi sub-caste certificates, so that they can benefit from reservation in education and jobs. (ANI)

The newly appointed Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes (MSCBC), tasked to survey the Maratha community to correctly ascertain its backwardness and therefore eligibility for reservation in jobs and education, has decided on a new approach. Casting aside the antiquated system of mapping the backwardness of the community, it has widened the parameters and aims to scrutinise changes in the living conditions of Marathas.

Two weeks after the state government appointed Sunil Shukre, retired high court judge to head the commission, the body has prepared a questionnaire for the survey. Unlike earlier commissions that adhered to the criteria set during the Mandal commission, insiders believe the new approach will help the body overshadow data collected earlier, which had been turned down by the courts. The new criteria will focus on last one-and-a-half decades from 2008.

154 questions have been designed to help check the backwardness on grounds of education, percentage of literacy among men and women, and backwardness based on traditions and customs involving superstitions among others. An official from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) department said. “If the enrolment of girls and boys is 10% less than the state average of enrolment in schools, the community can be considered backward. It will also gauge if drop-out rate of girls is 20% lower than the state average or the pass percentage of Class X students is less than 20% -- all these are parameters of backwardness.”

The commission will survey of farm labourers, dabbawalahs, Mathadi labourers and families where members have died by suicides driven by agrarian crisis. “Agrarian crisis aggravated by failure of crops, drought and drought-like situations have affected farmers who are largely from the Maratha community. Split in the land holding within the community has resulted in compromised holding per head, which has impacted family incomes leading to suicides. The survey will embrace these factors,” said the official.

Apart from education, the survey will also review the number of people in higher education and professional courses. Over and above all, if more than 25% families are living below the poverty line, it will be considered backward. Likewise, if 30% or more families are found residing in kachcha houses, the community would be deemed backward. Marginal landholding or landlessness of the community also qualify for backwardness.

Other focus areas are a family’s existing means of livelihood -- if they are in traditional businesses or hold government jobs. So they enjoy facilities such as good roads, electricity, water and toilets, said an official.

The state government has allocated ₹360 crore to the commission for the survey and table the report in a month. The state government is expected to submit the report once Supreme Court starts hearing the curative petition on January 24.

Pune-based institute to tabulate data

The commission authorised Pune based Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) conduct the survey on December 20, for which the institute has prepared an app where the responses will be received. It has a month to conclude the survey.

The institute has trained 1500 state government officials who will conduct the door-to-door survey of Maratha community members and tabulate the data, which will be collated by GIPE.

While Ajit Ranade, vice chancellor of GIPE chose not to divulge details, a senior officer from MSCBC underscored how the “institute is racing against time” to complete the task. Surveyors have been given tablets to feed the information and once they fill out the online questionnaire the data will be directly sent to GIPE.