Maharashtra Govt's Big Announcement For OBC, SC Communities Ahead Of Assembly Elections

The Maharashtra cabinet on Thursday decided to request the centre to increase the income limit to qualify for 'non-creamy layer' to Rs 15 lakh per year from the current Rs 8 lakh.

File photo of Ajit Pawar, Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde.

Source : PTI

Days after the Haryana election results where the BJP managed to clinch a historic third term, the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP coalition in Maharashtra has reached out to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

The Maharashtra cabinet on Thursday decided to request the centre to increase the income limit to qualify for 'non-creamy layer' to Rs 15 lakh per year from the current Rs 8 lakh.

The decision comes ahead of the assembly elections which are expected to be held next month. A non-creamy layer certificate, which means the family income of a person is below the prescribed limit, is needed to avail of reservation benefits in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category.

The Maharashtra government also approved a draft ordinance to accord a constitutional status to the Maharashtra State Scheduled Caste Commission.

The ordinance will be tabled in the next session of the legislature and 27 posts have been approved for the commission. In other decisions, the cabinet approved a proposal to set up welfare corporations for journalists and newspaper vendors. 

The government also sanctioned additional funds of Rs 709.27 crore for the Balasaheb Thackeray Turmeric Research Centre in Hingoli district. A proposal under which non-profit organisation Sulabh International will provide toilets and rest rooms at all 57 government hospitals in the state was approved in the meeting, the government release said.

The cabinet also decided to provide houses to the government employees living in the Bandra  government colony in Mumbai.

The working capital of the Maulana Azad Financial Corporation will be hiked from Rs 700 crore to Rs 1,000 crore, while the honorarium for Madarsa teachers with the D Ed degree will be increased from Rs 6,000 to Rs 16,000, while the salaries of teachers with BA, B Ed, BSc degrees will be hiked from Rs 8,000 to Rs 18,000.

The Mahayuti government's measures are similar to the Nayab Singh Saini's measures in Haryana where the BJP government hiked the creamy layer ceiling from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh. 

Shinde government's performance in Lok Sabha elections earlier this year was a reason to worry for the ruling alliance as the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance won 30 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. 

The BJP, which had won 23 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, was reduced to just 9 seats with Ajit Pawar's Shiv Sena winning one seat.