Congress to provide 50% quota to SCs, STs, OBCs & minorities

Udaipur: The Congress is set to provide 50 per cent representation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and minorities at all levels in the party organisation as part of its social engineering efforts to win back the confidence of the weaker sections.

In a change in stance on "quota within quota" in the women's reservation bill, the party is likely to resolve to demand that from out of the reservation for women in Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies, there should be proportionate reservation for SC, ST and OBC women.

Addressing a media briefing on the deliberations of the panel on social justice and empowerment formed by party chief Sonia Gandhi to lead discussions on this issue at the Congress' three-day 'Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir' here, senior leader and Union minister Salman Khurshid said establishing a social justice advisory council to the Congress president has also been recommended by the panel.

There will be an attached department that will collect data for "social engineering" and will make it available for Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) and other party units, said Khurshid, who is the convenor of the panel on social justice and empowerment. Social justice is a principled commitment but the basic instrument for that is "social engineering", he said.

K Raju, a panel member and coordinator to oversee the activities of the Congress' SC/ OBC/ Minority Departments, said the party's constitution as of now provides for 20 per cent reservation for SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities.