Telangana to bring 2 bills to raise OBC quota to 42%
A decision to this effect was taken by the state cabinet after a marathon discussion for over six hours on Thursday night
The Telangana government will introduce two separate bills in the upcoming budget session of the state assembly, seeking to provide 42% reservations to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) — one in the upcoming local body elections, another in the education and employment, said state backward classes minister Ponnam Prabhakar.
A decision to this effect was taken by the state cabinet after a marathon discussion for over six hours on Thursday night.
“The cabinet approved the bill to increase reservations for OBCs in local bodies from 23% to 42%. It also approved another bill providing 42% reservations for OBCs in public education and government jobs,” Prabhakar told the reporters after the cabinet meeting.
Ahead of the 2023 Telangana assembly elections, the Congress promised to increase the OBC reservations in local bodies from 23% to 42%. It also promised to implement a 42% OBC quota even in awarding government civil construction and maintenance contracts.
In 2017, the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government headed by K Chandrasekhar Rao enacted a legislation in the assembly increasing, among others, the reservations for OBCs in the local bodies from 23% to 37%. The government then referred the bill to the Centre for approval, but it did not get the approval.
Now, the Congress government proposes to enhance the OBC quota to 42% through yet another legislation. “Once the OBC local bodies reservation bill is passed by the state legislature, it will be sent to the Centre and an earlier bill seeking to provide 37% reservations to OBC, which is awaiting clearance from the Centre, will be withdrawn,” Prabhakar said.
As per the Socio, Economic, Educational, Employment, Political, and Caste Survey carried out in November and December 2024, 56.33% of the state’s population belongs to the OBCs, including 10% backward Muslims.
However, these figures were contested by BC groups and opposition parties, alleging deliberate undercounting of OBCs in the survey.
“Based on the representations from various groups, the state government conducted a second survey, giving one more chance to those who have not participated in the earlier caste survey to record their details,” the minister said, adding that the second round of survey could not be completed by the deadline of February 28 due to the model code of conduct for MLC elections.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Backward Classes Commission on Friday welcomed the decision of the state cabinet to provide 42% reservations to OBCs in education, employment, and local bodies. “This is a historic decision and a dream come true for the OBC community,” commission chairman G Niranjan said.
He told reporters that he was hoping the bills to be passed in the state legislature unanimously. “We appealed to all sections of people inside and outside the assembly to express their voice with unanimity in favour of the bill,” he said.
Stating that the role of the central government is crucial in getting the bill enacted and implemented, Niranjan said that leaders of all political parties should go to New Delhi and convince Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give approval to the bill.
He said the Commission has written to the Kaloji Narayana Rao Heallth University, Director of School Education, Board of Intermediate Education, and Secretary of Higher Education to provide caste-wise details of students.
“We have also written a letter to the director-general of the Centre for Good Governance to provide caste-wise details of scholarships provided to students. We requested the planning department to provide the data collected through the latest caste survey for further study,” the commission chairman said.
The commission has also written to the special chief secretary to finance department, government of Telangana, to provide caste-wise details of employees working in various departments, local bodies, corporations, and agencies.