An attempt by the ruling Congress-led UPA to woo the politically influential Jat community ahead of Assembly elections in Rajasthan and Delhi has come a cropper.
The UPA had planned the inclusion of Jats – who can tilt the poll balance in Rajasthan and parts of Delhi – under the other backward class (OBC) category for Central Government jobs. They are already included in the Rajasthan State list.
A Group of Ministers (GoM) even met last Wednesday to chart out a roadmap to classify Jats as OBCs in the Central list.
But wary of judicial scrutiny of its decision without proper documentary evidence upholding the community’s claims of backwardness, the GoM headed by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, according to informed sources, has decided to refrain from an immediate decision.
Jat quotas may remain just a promise even in the run up to the Parliamentary polls, unless the Centre adopts the State lists of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in the next six months.
The delay in the compilation and analysis of the caste census data in important States such as Uttar Pradesh has robbed the Congress off an electorally-promising announcement.
If the GoM meeting on last Wednesday is any indication, the experts tasked with listing out the community’s disadvantages have failed to find original data to support the claims of the community.
The GoM was set up by the Prime Minister in August with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Social Justice Minister Kumari Selja and Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy as members.
The Government is worried that if a proper study by a reputed nodal institution like the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) does not support the community’s claim, a mere executive decision may not stand the test of litigation.
The National Commission for Backward Classes had sought a study by the ICSSR, which in turn had asked about six institutions to map the backwardness of the community in various States that stand to benefit such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
The social scientists have realised that they would not be able to make a caste enumeration or qualitative analysis on their own in just six months. The wait for the caste census data too now seems pointless to meet the Parliament poll deadline.
So, the only option left for them is to copy the State lists and offer them as reason for the classification in case the Government’s decision is questioned in court.
The BJP-led NDA government had in 1999 classified Jats of Rajasthan as backward and offered them quotas in State Government jobs.