NEW DELHI: As the Karnataka government’s move to scrap four per cent reservation for Muslims kicked off a firestorm across the southern state, state government officials claimed that the reservation has “not been scrapped, but only shifted”.
It was being claimed that by moving the community to the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) category, “Muslims will now be in a grouping which has 10 per cent reservations”. The officials asserted that the claim that Muslim reservations have been scrapped was “misleading”.
The argument that is being offered is that Muslims were now getting four per cent reservation under Category II C and Category II D (two per cent each). By competing with Vokkaligas and Lingayats in the IIC and IID categories, Muslims had less benefits for admissions in educational institutions and government jobs. It was maintained that the Muslims will now have more chances of benefiting as they would compete with fewer castes.
It was further argued by the state government officials that “there is no provision for Muslim reservations in the Constitution”.
The state officials felt that the Category IIC and IID now “will genuinely address the reservation needs of the backward Lingayats and Vokkaligas”.
On the employment issue, meanwhile, it was claimed that chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has ensured that Karnataka has the second lowest unemployment rate in the country, of 2.7 per cent, against the national average of 4.1 per cent.
