Bhubaneswar: The BJD and Congress Sunday demanded provision of reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) students on the basis of their population ratio in Odisha and not just 11.25 per cent as announced by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
The CM Saturday announced that the state cabinet has approved a proposal to raise the quotas for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students and introduced reservation for OBC, known as SEBC in Odisha, in medical and technical education.
The chief minister also announced that the quota for ST students was raised from 12 per cent to 22.50 per cent, and for SC students from 8 per cent to 16.25 per cent, as per their population ratio.
Majhi said the state government, for the first time, introduced reservation for OBCs at 11.25 per cent.
However, both the BJD and the Congress leaders raised questions on the difference made between the ST, SC and OBCs.
While the quota is announced for ST and SC as per their population ratio, why is it just 11.25 per cent for OBCs, who constitute about 54 per cent of the state’s population, asked Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das.
We demand that the OBCs also get the reservation in medical and technical education as per their population rate. There is no point in keeping the total reservation within 50 per cent in states like Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh in view of their high population of tribals, dalits and OBC, Das said.
BJD MLA and former minister Arun Kumar Sahoo also made a similar demand and cited the instance of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and other states where the total reservation ratio is more than 50 per cent.
This is the golden opportunity for the Odisha government, as it claimed to be a double-engine government. Let the state government take up the matter with the Centre and make provision of reservation beyond 50 per cent, Sahoo said.
He said, We demand the quota to be fixed on a population-proportional rate.
BJD MLA and former minister Ranendra Pratap Swain, in a post on X said, With this historic announcement for the lakhs of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes in the state, I personally thank and welcome this decision by @CMO_Odisha Shri @MohanMOdisha.
At the same time, Swain said, the fight will continue in the coming days to provide reservations to socially and educationally backward classes, also on the basis of their population-proportional rate.
According to Majhi’s announcement, the new reservation system will be implemented across universities, their affiliated colleges and educational institutions, ITIs and polytechnics in the state in the fields of engineering, technology, management, computer applications, medicine, agriculture and allied sciences, architecture, planning and cinematic arts.
