Editor-DN
Haryana on Tuesday implemented sub-classification within Scheduled Castes (SC) for reservation in government jobs, as announced by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini in the Vidhan Sabha. The announcement was made on the first day of Haryana’s winter session, in which Saini said, “Sub-classification within the Scheduled Caste, as permitted by the Supreme Court, has been implemented in Haryana from 5 pm today.”
This decision is important ahead of time. Maharashtra Elections, where a similar panel was constituted for the SC sub-category just before the election announcements, suggested that BJP The opposition may make it part of its national strategy to counter the focus of the caste census.
On August 1, the Supreme Court ruled that states have the constitutional power to sub-categorize within the SC category in recognition of its social disparity. Subsequently, the Sini-led government in Haryana approved the sub-classification decision in its first cabinet meeting on 18 October.
The Haryana State Commission for SCs had recommended bifurcation of SC reservation into two categories: Deprived Scheduled Castes (DSC) and Other Scheduled Castes (OSC). The DSC category, which includes 36 castes such as Dhunks, Balmikis, Mazhabi Sikhs, and Khattaks, will get 50 percent of the SC job quota, citing inadequate representation in government jobs. Castes like Chamar, Jatiya Chamar, Rahgar, Raigar, Ramdasi, Ravidasi, Jatav, Mochi and Ramdasia will come under OSC.
The Cabinet had initially approved the recommendations on August 17, later formalizing the subclassification decision in its October 18 meeting shortly after the BJP’s third consecutive election win. In 2020, Haryana also introduced the Haryana Scheduled Castes (Reservation in Admission to Educational Institutions) Act, which reserved 50 percent of SC seats in higher educational institutions for the DSC category.
In the recent assembly elections, the BJP won eight out of 17 seats reserved for SCs, compared to five out of 17 in 2019.
