WB govt raises OBC quota to woo minorities

Kolkata : In a bid to woo minority voters ahead of state Assembly elections early next year, the West Bengal government has announced of increasing the total reservation in government jobs to 45 per cent by raising the quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) from existing 7 per cent to 17 per cent.

A notification was issued on Friday to reserve government jobs under this policy, which also classified the backward classes into two groups.

Making the announcement, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said it was a step to address the concerns of the backward classes.

?Reservation is not the only solution, we have to create equal opportunities,? he added.

The CM, however, refused to link the matter with next year?s elections.

?It is merely coincidental (timing of the announcement). This has no connection with the (ensuing) elections; we have done this from our social obligation.?

Around 3.15 crore people, constituting 39 per cent of the state’s population, are under OBC classification.

While one section called ?more backward’ would get a 10 per cent reservation, the other section classified as ?backward’ would get seven per cent quota.

Altogether 108 communities from all religions are included in the OBC category, of which 53 are Muslim communities while 45 are Hindu communities. Nine are from Buddhist and another one from Jain community.

With the new classification in OBC category, 56 out of total 108 communities have been regarded as the ‘more backward’ classes. The more backward classes comprise 49 Muslims, six Hindu and one Buddhist communities.