Kurukshetra MP wants caste data put in public domain

Sushil Manav

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 17

The caste data of government employees released by the Haryana Backward Classes Commission (HBCC) may block the possibility of reservation to Jats and five other castes — Jat Sikhs, Mullah Jats, Rors, Bishnois and Tyagis.

The data reveal that Jats occupy 28.28 per cent of state government jobs against their population share of 25 per cent. While the numbers have put Jats on defensive, it has provided ammunition to those favouring quota for non-Jats in the state.

Talking to The Tribune today, Saini said the state government should make public the figures of Census 2011 pertaining to caste-wise population of the state kept under wraps by the previous Congress government.

“The claims that Jats constitute 25 per cent of the population are false. Let the Census 2011 data be made public and all castes be provided reservation in jobs as per their share in population. If any caste has already cornered more jobs than its population, ban should be imposed on its entry to jobs till the backlog of the others is completed,” said Saini.

Social analysts believe that caste data will have political overtones and with elections due in May 2019, this may well become a poll issue.

The parties practicing Jat politics will have a lot of explaining to do while seeking votes from other castes in the upcoming polls.

It is no secret that the BJP government was not initially inclined to provide reservation to Jats and five other castes, which the previous Hooda government had provided by placing them in the Special Backward Classes category just before the 2014 Assembly poll.

It was only after violent agitation by Jats in February last year that the BJP government passed a Bill, listing the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim Jats, Bishnois, Tyagis, and Rors in the freshly engraved Backward Classes (C) category, which is yet to clear legal scrutiny.

Sources said that the BJP won only 19 per cent of the Jat vote in the 2014 general elections and only 17 per cent in the state Assembly elections.

The consolidation of non-Jat votes was a factor in the BJP’s electoral victory and the present caste data of government employees is likely to help it to unite non-Jats again for poll benefits.

Case sought against Hooda over ‘fake’ quota survey

Chandigarh: The Loktantra Suraksha Manch, an organisation opposed to Jat reservation, on Sunday demanded registration of an FIR against former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and members of his Cabinet for giving quota to Jats on the basis of a “fake” survey. Prajapati Hanuman Verma, general secretary of the manch, said the Central government should immediately dismiss the services of 24,000 persons who got jobs on the basis of the quota under Special Backward Classes. “Jat leader Yashpal Malik has claimed on several occasions that 24,000 Jats were given Central jobs after the implementation of the SBC quota,” said Verma. He alleged Hooda gave jobs to his own men in the name of reservation under the SBC category. He said that the state government should order an inquiry into it. As per the caste data of state government employees, the share of Jats in Class-I jobs is 24.48 per cent, Class-II 30.22 per cent, Class-III 31.08 per cent and in Class-IV 14.12 per cent, which is much more than their population. He said the claim that Jats were 25 per cent of the total population was erroneous. If true figure was brought to the fore, they would not be more than 15 per cent of the total population. — TNS