Telangana: 10% for EWS in jobs, education

Hyderabad: Telangana has decided to give 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker sections (EWS) in the State. Announcing this on Thursday, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said he would convene a review meeting in the next two to three days to discuss the issue and give relevant orders to enforce the 10 per cent reservation in jobs and academic segments.

The annual income limit of the EWS will also be finalised to avail reservation by the weaker sections among forward castes mainly - Brahmins, Pathans, and Syeds in Muslims, Reddys, Kammas, and Komati communities in the State. The Centre has set Rs 8 lakh as the income limit to be eligible for the EWS reservation by forward communities and the States have been given the freedom to alter the income limit according to local conditions.

It is learnt that the TS Government is planning to increase the income of the EWS sections to Rs 9 to Rs 10 lakh. KCR in a statement said that "There is a need to implement 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education to economically weaker sections. We have decided to implement 10 per cent reservations to the EWS while continuing the reservations to those who are already enjoying the benefit.

As of date, 50 per cent reservation is being implemented for the weaker sections. With 10 per cent reservation to the EWS, the reservation percentage in Telangana will be increased to 60 per cent," the chief minister said. Officials said that 10 per cent reservation in the government jobs to the EWS sections would be finalised in consultation with the legal experts.

The government is making efforts in enforcing 10 per cent reservation to the EWS in the new job notifications to be announced soon. It may be mentioned here that the Union Government has enforced 10 per cent reservation to EWS sections in all central sponsored higher educational institutions and also jobs from UPSC to Staff Selection Commission (SSC) in January last year.