10% quota for EWS in govt jobs, education: Mamata

Kolkata: The state Cabinet on Tuesday approved 10 percent reservation for 'economically weaker general caste' in state government civil service and in educational institutions across the state.

"This is a historic decision on the part of our government. The SC/ST and OBC, who are already entitled to reservation, will not get the benefit," said state Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee at the state Assembly.

The state government will soon bring out a notification in this regard after tabling and passing a Bill in this regard, preferably in the ongoing Assembly session. The criteria and other formalities for getting the benefit have already been discussed and will be clearly mentioned in the notification.

It may be mentioned that a few months ago, the Centre had also introduced 10 percent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), saying it was brought in to promote "social equality" by providing "equal opportunities in higher education and employment to those who have been excluded by virtue of their economic status".

During the day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with the MLAs of SC/ST and tribal community at the state Assembly and took stock of development activities and other works for the communities.

She gave a patient hearing to their suggestions to ensure that work for the Backward Classes Welfare (BCW) department can be carried out in a more efficient manner. "The Chief Minister has instructed the concerned officials to expedite the process of disbursement of SC/ST certificates and not to dilly-dally regarding handing over the same, as these backward classes need the certificates for admission from school to university and also for jobs of state and Central government," Chatterjee said.

All Opposition MLAs attended the meeting and 37 of them belonging to different political parties offered their suggestions to expedite services rendered for the welfare of the backward classes. At present, 84 MLAs in the state among 294 belong to the SC and ST community. Banerjee also gave the nod for holding camps in the block level to fast-track the process of handing over the certificates.

"The Chief Minister has given clear instructions that apart from hearing their grievances and attempting to solve them, steps should be taken for socio-economic development of them as well," Chatterjee said. The meeting was attended by state BCW minister Rajib Banerjee and senior officials of the department. Banerjee also called for an awareness campaign regarding the various benefits for the welfare of the backward classes being provided by her government, to bridge any sort of information gap in this regard.

It may be mentioned that since assuming power in 2011, the state government has issued 67.22 lakh SC and OBC caste certificates, while the number of ST certificates distributed stands at 6.9 lakh.