Centre sits for five years on Telangana’s BC SC/ST Reservation Bill

Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda reveals in the Lok Sabha on Monday that the Centre was yet to send the bill to the President for approval

Hyderabad: The BJP-led union government’s lack of commitment towards welfare of backward classes, scheduled castes and tribes has now become more evident with union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda himself revealing in the Lok Sabha on Monday that the Centre was yet to send the bill to the President for approval, despite being passed by the Telangana State Assembly and sent to the Centre way back in 2017.

Munda disclosed that the Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or posts in the Services under the State) Bill, 2017 was not sent to the President for approval in response to a question from BRS MPs Ranjith Reddy and Kavitha Malothu.

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Munda, admitting that the bill was received in the Ministry of Home Affairs, said the ministry had submitted that the bill ‘might be’ processed after disposal of court cases on the subject of reservation pending in the Supreme Court of India.

It was almost six years ago that the Telangana State Legislative Assembly passed the bill, seeking a hike in reservations for tribals in the State and sent it to the union government for Presidential assent. Despite repeated pleas from the State government, the Chief Minister and the tribals, the Centre has kept the bill in cold storage.

Vexed over the Centre’s lackadaisical attitude, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao during the recent National Integration Day celebrations had announced that government orders would be issued revising reservations for STs from six per cent to 10 per cent. Accordingly on September 30 this year, the State government issued orders, effective from October 1.

Tamil Nadu had already increased the reservations and the total reservations in that State have crossed 50 per cent limit and gone up to 69 per cent. Strikingly, the Centre also included these hiked reservations of Tamil Nadu in Schedule 9 to provide the Constitutional sanctity.

Taking a cue from Telangana, the BJP-ruled Karnataka government had also revised the reservations. As per the new ordinance, the State’s quota in educational institutions and government jobs for Scheduled Castes is now increased from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from 3 per cent to 7 per cent.

Karnataka Governor Thawarchand Gehlot approved the State government’s ordinance to increase the quota of the Scheduled Caste (SC) and the Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in jobs and the education sector, according to reports.