Chandigarh: In Haryana, a sub-category of backward classes (Block A or BC-A) has now been given a reservation of its own from the overall BC quota for elections to the state’s municipal bodies – a move that may help next year The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming parliamentary and assembly elections
The backward classes in the state are divided into two ‘blocks’: BC-A and BC-B. BC-As have often complained that BC-Bs are in a better position politically. This is because the entire population of BC (A and B) are often counted together and – due to better social and economic status – BC-B manage to get more tickets in elections and enjoy more political clout .
According to an official statement issued by the state government on Monday, the BC-A category – which till now had little representation in the municipal bodies – will now have reserved seats as councilors in every municipal committee, municipal council and municipal corporation.
This announcement has been made by the BJP-Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) government in view of something similar. decision Before last year panchayat elections to give reservation to BC-A in panchayati raj institutions. In both the cases, the cabinet accepted the recommendations of the Haryana Backward Classes Commission after empirical investigation to assess the political representation of the backward classes.
The commission was reconstituted last year after being dissolved in 2016. trade standard Report.
In this matter, the commission submitted its report to the government on Friday and it was accepted on Monday. The report found that castes in Block A were under-represented and concluded that they needed the support of reservations in elections to local bodies and municipalities to ensure adequate participation in the grassroots democratic set-up.
Speaking to ThePrint, Parveen Jora, BJP state executive member and coordinator for the Sirsa parliamentary seat, said only the BJP has “heard the sentiments of the BC-A”. Jora himself belongs to BC-A category. He said that this quota will provide representation to those people who have not been able to represent in urban local bodies.
Similarly, Haryana deputy speaker Ranbir Gangwa told ThePrint that BC-A representation has always been poor.
“The BJP government in Haryana gave representation to BC-A in Rajya Sabha for the first time when it gave ticket to Ram Chander Jangra in 2020. Now, by giving representation to the BC-A in the PRI (Panchayati Raj Institution) elections, last year and the municipal bodies on Monday, the Manohar Lal Khattar government has given political representation at the local self-government level, Gangwa said.
However, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is now the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, said the government should have taken this step eight years ago, immediately after coming to power.
“When I was the chief minister, my government announced reservation for BCs in Group A and Group B jobs. But this government took eight years to provide quota in the municipal bodies.
Haryana Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, however, said that despite Hooda being the CM for almost 10 years, Congress did not give any quota to BC-A in Panchayati Raj Institutions and Municipal bodies.
Elections to several major municipal bodies in the state – including the municipal corporations of Gurugram, Manesar and Faridabad, besides a few smaller municipalities – are due in the next few months.
Backward Classes of Haryana
Jora claims that the backward classes as a whole constitute 27 per cent of Haryana’s population and according to Gangwa, the government considers BC-A as 18 per cent.
According to Satbir Birthalia, a prominent BC-A leader from Haryana, before the Mandal Commission recommended a 27 per cent quota in jobs for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in 1990, the backward classes used to get 10 per cent reservation.
In 1996, a body constituted by the Haryana government to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission divided the 27 per cent quota for OBCs into two categories – 16 per cent for backward classes – Block A and 11 per cent for backward classes – block B.
The central government uses ‘OBC’ as a collective term to classify educationally or socially backward castes. Haryana refers to this category only as ‘Backward Classes’.
“The Center gives 27 per cent quota for OBCs, while Haryana gives 16 and 11 per cent quota for BC-A and BC-B, respectively, for Group C and Group D jobs in the state government. The quota for Group A and Group B jobs is 10 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
“If we have to apply for a post in the central government, the BC-A certificate issued by the Haryana government does not work. For this we have to take OBC certificate.
According to the official website of the Directorate of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, there are 72 castes included in the BC-A category in Haryana.
Historically, these were landless communities engaged in making iron tools (Lohar), crafting clay pots (Kumhar), melting and designing gold (Sunar), washing clothes (Dhobi), roasting gram and groundnut (Bharbhunja) and Were engaged in works like oil extraction. From oilseeds (oil).
On the other hand, the Backward Classes Block-B sub-category includes six castes: Yadav/Ahir Gurjar, Lodha, Saini, Meo and Goswami. BC-B people are relatively better off and are more likely to own land.
The state has seen several BC-B category leaders in the past – former CM Rao Birender Singh and former minister Rao Abhay Singh, former MPs Gurdial Singh Saini and Raj Kumar Saini, Captains Ajay Singh Yadav, Tyeb Hussain and Khurshid Ahmed.
In the present generation of leaders, Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh, Bhupinder Singh Yadav and Krishan Pal Gurjar are from BC-B. In the present state assembly, Kanwar Pal, Dharam Singh Chhoker, Rao Dan Singh, Abhay Singh Yadav, Om Prakash Yadav, Laxman Singh Yadav, Chiranjeev Rao, Bishan Lal Saini, Rajesh Nagar, Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Ilyas are some BC-B leaders .
In contrast, Gangwa and Indri MLA Ram Kumar Kashyap is currently the only BC-A representative in the state assembly.
new reservation breakup
There are 88 municipal bodies in Haryana. Of these, 11 are municipal corporations (Gurugram, Faridabad, Manesar, Panchkula, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak, Hisar, Ambala, Sonipat, and Yamunanagar), and 23 are municipal councils, while the remaining 54 are municipalities in cities with smaller populations. ,
At present, seats are reserved for scheduled castes in municipal bodies in proportion to their population. In addition, one-third of the total seats in the municipal bodies are reserved for women. Reservation for women is a quota within a quota, which means that general category women will get one-third of general seats and scheduled caste women will get one-third of scheduled caste seats. Depending on the size of the municipal body, one to two seats are reserved for BCs.
Now according to the release of the state government, the percentage of seats to be reserved in a particular municipal body will be half the percentage of BC-A population in that urban area. If the decimal value of seats eligible for reservation is greater than 0.5, it will be rounded off to the next higher integer.
“For example, if the BC-A population in an urban area is 25 per cent, then 12.5 per cent seats in that particular municipal body shall be reserved for persons belonging to the category,” the release said.
However, at least one councilor seat in all municipal bodies shall be reserved for BC-A, provided the population of these communities is not less than 2 per cent.
As far as the posts of mayors and presidents are concerned, 8 percent of the total number of these posts will be reserved for the BC-A category. Again, in case the decimal value is “0.5 or higher”, the number will be rounded up to the next higher integer.
However, the Haryana Backward Classes Commission has clarified that, as per Supreme Court directions, the total reserved quota – for BC-As and Scheduled Castes (SCs) – shall never exceed 50 per cent of the total seats. Any special urban local body or municipality. The state government’s release does not mention any specific percentage of reservation for the undivided BC category.
If the total number of seats reserved for SC and BC-A categories exceeds 50 per cent of the total seats in a particular municipality, the number reserved for BC-A shall be limited to the maximum possible number, when added to Reserved SC seats, not more than 50%.
If the SC population in an urban area is 50 per cent or more, then BC-A will not get any reservation, irrespective of their population share.
Where the Scheduled Caste population is 40 per cent of the population of the urban local body and there are say 10 seats in the urban local area, then four seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the remaining one seat shall be available for reservation. BC-A.
Speaking to ThePrint, state election commissioner Dhanpat Singh clarified that once the government sends its recommendations following a cabinet decision, the quota will be applicable in all future elections, including elections to the municipal corporations of Gurugram and Faridabad and the newly formed Manesar. Includes municipal elections. Corporation.
‘Politically bound to help BJP’
Speaking to The Print, Yoginder Gupta, a political analyst from Panchkula, said that by giving BC-A quota in panchayati raj institutions last year and now in municipal bodies, the BJP has played cleverly to win over people from these castes.
“The move is bound to help the party politically in next year’s parliamentary and assembly elections,” he said.
However, Ram Niwas Ghorela, the Congress MLA from Barwala from 2014 to 2019, said that he has been campaigning for the BC-A quota, and that the BJP-JJP government had announced it only under pressure from the Congress.
Ghorela said he has been organizing rallies for the cause for the past one year and Hooda was addressing them.
“We held our first rally in Fatehabad in May last year and the government announced the setting up of the Haryana Backward Classes Commission. Our next rally was in Gohana in July 2022 and the government had announced a quota for BC-A in PRIs,” Ghorela said, adding that the quota announced for PRIs and municipal bodies was still not enough, and It should be like 16% job quota for BC-A and 11% for BC-B.
(Editing by Zinnia Ray Chowdhury)
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