Political parties and organisations fighting for the rights of the vast majority of OBCs in Odisha are raising similar demands in response to the Karnataka government’s decision to petition the Centre for legal protection of enhanced reservation for scheduled categories and other backward classes in public employment and educational institutions.
The BJP, which has criticised the State government for failing to uphold the constitutional requirement to grant OBCs 27% of the available jobs and educational spaces, urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to contact the Center in order to obtain protection from judicial review of the quota exceeding the 50% threshold upheld by the Supreme Court. “There is no reason for limiting the reservation at 11.25 percent in Odisha while a State like Karnataka has created a provision for a 32% reserve for OBCs. By purposefully denying the constitutional rights of the majority people, the BJD government has shown that it is anti-OBC, according to State BJP OBC Morcha President Surath Biswal.
The State government, in a tardy gesture, decided to reserve 10% of seats in technical institutes for members of economically weaker sections (EWS), but the OBC’s demand has still not been met, he said. According to Srikanta Jena, a former union minister, only 6% of people in the general category receive 60% of the available reservations, compared to 40% for ST, SC, and OBC people, who make up 94% of the population.
Prasanta Patnaik