Bill on Jat quotas gets go-ahead in Haryana

The Haryana Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of a bill proposing to provide quotas in government jobs and education to Jats. The draft bill on quotas for Jats and four other castes was cleared at a Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

The Jats had set a deadline of April 3 for their demands to be met. In February they had held violent protests for nine days demanding reservations, in which at least 30 people had lost their lives and property worth hundreds of crores of rupees was destroyed.

The bill is likely to be tabled in the Budget Session of the Assembly that will end on Thursday. Besides Jats, it will provide for quotas for Jat Sikhs, Rors, Bishnois and Tyagis. A new classification in the category of backward classes is learnt to have been created for this purpose.

The state’s BJP government had promised reservations for Jats and the others after the recent agitation. Mr Khattar had also made it clear the existing 27 per cent reservations for Other Backward Classes would not be disturbed.