A noted backward classes leader R. Krishnaiah has said that the Constitutional Amendment Bill will do more harm than good to the targeted groups because there was every possibility that State governments will exploit the legislation to gain political mileage.
The governments can include ineligible caste groups in their lists yielding to pressure. This will result in injustice to most backward classes representing washermen, barbers, fishermen and others who cannot compete with developed castes in education. He reminded that reservations were conceived to enhance social status of castes and not extended as a poverty-alleviation programme.
The legislation, he said, was more in the nature of allowing inclusion of new castes among BCs rather than extending reservations on the basis of population. Mr. Krishnaiah, who presided over a meeting on Thursday of the core committee of National Backward Classes Welfare Association which he headed, felt the present cap of 50 per cent on reservations was not sufficient for the existing castes that were socially and economically backward. Inclusion of new castes will further harm the existing BCs.
He said inclusion of castes among BCs was a technical issue which required a rigid scrutiny and sending it to National Commission for Backward Classes for vetting. If the Centre was committed to the uplift of BCs, he demanded political reservation for them up to 50 per cent based on their population.
The BJP OBC Morcha president K. Laxman welcomed the Bill saying it was introduced to ensure that the Centre did not interfere with the legitimate rights of State governments to include or exclude castes in BC lists.
