Kavitha Wants SC Reservations Raised To 18%

Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha today demanded that Scheduled Caste (SC) reservations be increased to 18% in line with the revised population figures and that a resolution to this effect be passed during the ongoing Assembly Budget Session.

Kavitha held a meeting with leaders of various SC sub-castes at the Jagruthi office in Banjara Hills. Representatives of 20 SC sub-castes participated in the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, Kavitha said that the SC population in the State had increased from 15% to 18%, as reflected in the earlier Comprehensive Family Survey and the recent Social, Economic, Political and Caste Census conducted by the present government.

Recalling the State government's earlier assurance that SC reservations would be enhanced after the completion of the Census undertaken by the Government of India and the release of official population data - as part of the implementation of SC categorisation - Kavitha demanded that the Assembly pass a resolution right now for the enhancement of reservations without further delay.

She said that the benefits of reservations must reach all sub-castes among the SCs, and should be extended not only in education and employment but also in the political sphere.

Reaffirming Jagruthi's commitment, Kavitha said that the organisation would stand firmly with the SCs in their struggle for enhanced reservations and the resolution of long-pending issues, and would launch a sustained movement in coordination with Dalit organisations to press for the enhancement of SC reservations.

She also assured the gathering that she would make sincere efforts to address the difficulties faced by certain SC sub-castes in obtaining caste certificates.

Earlier in the morning, the ex-MP strongly condemned the preventive arrests of unemployed youth, and said that the action was taken to prevent them from allegedly obstructing the visit of Rahul Gandhi.