The AP cabinet has approved the report submitted by the single-member commission appointed by the state government on SC classification, headed by retired IAS officer Rajiv Ranjan Mishra. This was approved in a cabinet meeting chaired by CM Chandrababu Naidu on Monday. It will be introduced in the ongoing Assembly budget session.
Later, a special discussion will be held on it and after getting the approval of the House, it will be sent to the Center immediately. Meanwhile, the single-member commission divided the SCs in the state into Groups-1, 2 and 3. The government, which appointed the single-member commission on November 15 last year, ordered it to submit a report within 2 months.
Commission member Rajiv Ranjan Mishra received opinions from the respective communities in the state. Petitions were taken from SC associations, intellectuals and employees in 13 joint districts. Discussions were held with leaders of all sub-castes and employee associations among the SCs. In some places, garlands of petitions were submitted against the classification.
The commission focused on which sections of the SCs were not able to get government benefits equally. It also focused on the population of the SC sub-castes by collecting opinions from all sections.
In January 2024, the then YSRCP government conducted a caste census. It also took those statistics into account. It focused on the inability of the respective sections of the SCs to get opportunities in the government sector.
It found that the Madigas among the SCs have the least share in government jobs. It found out the statistics of how many of which sub-castes of the SCs are in the respective jobs across the state. On November 7 last year, CM Chandrababu met with 23 coalition Dalit MLAs at the Secretariat.
Along with the Supreme Court verdict on classification, they also discussed the election promise with them. It was said that the district would be implemented as a unit on a population-proportional basis. It was explained to the MLAs that it had been decided to set up a commission on the implementation of classification.
Since then, a one-member commission has been appointed after considering the opinions of all sections. Before the meeting with Chandrababu, the coalition’s Dalit MLAs met and discussed the problems of Dalits. They recalled that the TDP manifesto promised to implement SC reservations on the basis of population.
They demanded that these reservations be implemented on the basis of population at the district level. They demanded that they be divided into Madiga, Mala, Relli, and other categories. In the context of the increasing SC population, the MLAs demanded that the reservations be increased from 16 to 18 percent.
