Govt accepts panel report on granting Kunbi certificates to Marathas

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday accepted the first report of a committee headed by retired high court judge Sandeep Shinde, appointed to decide the procedure for granting Kunbi caste certificates to the Marathas in the Marathwada region.

The process of the issuance of Kunbi certificates has begun, an official statement said. Kunbi, a community associated with agriculture, is grouped under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in Maharashtra and enjoys reservation benefits in education and government jobs. The state cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, also decided that the OBC Commission would collect fresh empirical data to assess the educational and social backwardness of the Maratha community.

These decisions by the government came amid activist Manoj Jarange’s indefinite fast for quota for the Maratha community, which entered the seventh day on Tuesday, and incidents of violence mainly in the Marathwada region. “The first report of the Justice Sandeep Shinde (retd) committee has been submitted.

The process of granting Kunbi certificates to Marathas has started,” the statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said. Talking to reporters after the cabinet meeting, the chief minister said it is the responsibility of the government to provide the reservation to the Maratha community.