Karnataka Scraps 4% Muslim Quota, Now Shared Between 2 Communities

The Karnataka government today announced two new categories for reservation in jobs and education and scrapped the 4 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) Muslims. The announcement by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai comes just a month before assembly election is scheduled to be held in the BJP-ruled state.

The 4 per cent OBC Muslim quota has been divided between the Vokkaligas and Lingayats. Muslims eligible for quota have been categorised under economically weaker sections now.

The decision, however, pushes reservation percentage in Karnataka, which is already over the 50 per cent cap imposed by the Supreme Court, to approximately 57 per cent now.

"We have taken some important decisions," Mr Bommai told reporters today. "A cabinet sub-committee recommended the changes in quota categories and we have done it," he said.

Mr Bommai said backward classes have been reorganised into two sets - "more backward and most backward classes".

One of the two new categories is that the quota for Vokkaligas has been raised from 5 per cent to 7 per cent. The quota for the other category, which has Panchamasalis, Veerashaivas and other Lingayats, has also been increased from 5 per cent to 7 per cent.

A request to bring back the reservation percentage to below 50 per cent, the cap imposed by the Supreme Court, is pending in the Karnataka High Court.

from NDTV News- Topstories https://ift.tt/80rX4dt