Jharkhand increases reservations for SCs, STs, Others

September 16, 2022

The Jharkhand Government recently approved a proposal to grant 77 per cent reservation in the state government jobs for people belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes, OBC and other economically weaker sections.

Key facts

The state government of Jharkhand has approved a bill to amend the Jharkhand Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services Act, 2001.
The amendment bill provides 77 per cent reservation to SC, ST, BC, OBCs and economically weaker sections.
It has increased the OBC reservation to 27 per cent from the present 14 per cent.
It provides quota of 12 per cent for people belonging to local SC communities and 28 per cent for local ST communities.
The extremely Backward Class people are given 15 per cent reservation and OBCs are given 12 per cent reservation.
Economically backward individuals who are not included in other reserved categories are given 10 per cent reservation.
The reservations in the government jobs would curtail migration of people to other states across India.
Increasing reservation limits, especially for other backward classes (OBCs) has been a long-pending demand in Jharkhand.
The state government also approved the “Jharkhand definition of local persons and for extending the consequential, social, cultural and other benefits to such local persons Bill, 2022”.
This bill considers people whose ancestors have their name in the 1932 khatiyan (land records) or before as local inhabitants of Jharkhand.
Those who are landless or do not have their or their families’ names in the 1932 Khatiyan, respective gram sabha would have the power to certify them based on language and customary traditions.
This decision comes after the tribes demanded that the last land survey conducted by the British in 1932 must be used for determining who the local inhabitants were.
The State Government has decided to request the Central Government to include the bill in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.