Committee to submit report in month on providing Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas from Marathwada: Eknath Shinde

Eknath Shinde, the chief minister of Maharashtra, said that a committee will present its report on how to grant Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas from the Marathwada region within a month. This announcement came amid demonstrations against the Maratha quota.

A committee was set up and asked to submit a report within a month on how to issue Kunbi certificates to the Maratha community from Marathwada. The state government has taken this issue seriously and we are working to find an amicable solution, the chief minister told reporters.

I have directed officials to study the Supreme Court's verdict on the Maratha quota and recommend solutions. We need to establish that the Maratha community is backward, the chief minister added. However, Manoj Jarange Patil, who has been on hunger strike in Jalna district, told reporters he would not call off the protest unless a government order (GR) is issued granting reservation in education and jobs to the Maratha community.

In Maharashtra, the community known as the Kunbis is classified as one of the Other Backward Classes (OBC). Marathas have been demanding reservation in education and government jobs. The Supreme Court invalidated the Maratha community's 2018 request for employment and educational accommodations from the Maharashtra government under the socially and educationally backward category in May 2021, citing among other reasons the 50 percent cap on total reservations.