PC promises to expedite inclusion of jats in OBC category

 by Haryananewswire (Balbir)

CHANDIGARH, JUNE 12

une 12-Union Home Minister Mr P. Chidambaram today assured a high level delegation of Congress leaders led by Haryana Chief Minister Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda that he would ask the National Commission for Backward Classes to expedite the report on the demand for inclusion of all Jats across India irrespective of region or religion in the Central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for reservation in jobs and educational institutions of the Central Government.

       This was stated by the Haryana Chief Minister Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda while talking to media persons, after meeting the Union Home Minister in Delhi today. The members of the delegation submitted a memorandum to Mr P. Chidambaram and urged him to consider the demand  at the earliest possible.

Senior leaders, Members of Parliament, former Members of Parliament, MLAs from Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh including the Union Minister of State Mr Mahadev Khandela,  President of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee Mr Chander Bhan (both from Rajasthan), AICC General Secretary Ch. Birender Singh MP, Mr Deepender Singh Hooda MP, Mrs Shruti Chaudhary MP and Mr Jitender Singh Malik MP, Mr Jai Parkash former MP, Mr Dharambir Singh Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Anand Singh Dangi MLA (All from Haryana), Speaker of Delhi Vidhan Sabha Mr Yoganand Shastri, Mr Ramesh Kumar MP (both from Delhi), Punjab Leader of Opposition Mr Sunil Jakhar(from Punjab), former MPs Mr Bijender Singh and  Mr Harender Singh Malik and Mr Pankaj Malik MLA (all from Uttar Pradesh) were part of the delegation, which submitted Memorandum to the Union Minister in this regard.  

The members of the delegation pointed out that the Jats are essentially a rural and agrarian community, which greatly contributes to the country’s agricultural produce. But it is a fact that more than 95 per cent of this community seeks livelihood as marginal farmers, with an average less than two acres of land holdings.  There is a strong feeling in the Jat community that they have been deprived of the benefit of reservation unlike other peasant communities with similar backgrounds. This has given them a sense of discrimination. The delegation also impressed that it was also logical that the Jats and other such communities should not be segregated and treated differently from state to state. 

The delegation requested that the Central Government should give this issue an urgent, serious and favorable consideration. The inclusion of Jats in the list of OBCs will be a socially just decision, they said.