Gujarat announces 10 per cent quota for economically backward sections

Families with income below Rs 6 lakh per annum will be eligible for this reservation.

The Gujarat government on Friday announced 10 per cent reservation for economically backward sections of the general category in state jobs and educational institutions.

Announcing the decision, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel said that the notification regarding the same would be issued on May 1 and families with income below Rs 6 lakh per annum will be eligible for this reservation.

The existing 49 per cent reservation for the SC/ST/OBC will continue uninterrupted, and the new 10 per cent reservation is exclusive of the reservation for the SC/ST/OBC, state Cabinet Minsiter Vijay Rupani said.

The minister also assured that the state was prepared to go to the length of Supreme Court if necessary to implement the reservation. The move comes after heightened agitation in the state seeking reservation for the Patidar community lead by 22-year-old leader Hardik Patel.

Patel, on October 3 last, allegedly advised a Surat-based activist from his community to kill the policemen rather than ending his life. -"If you have so much courage... then go and kill a couple of policemen. Patels never commit suicide,-" Hardik allegedly told Vipul Desai, who had announced he would commit suicide in support of the quota agitation.

Following this, Surat crime branch lodged a case of sedition against Hardik and arrested him. Hardik's lawyer Zubin Bharda argued in court that he was only trying to console a friend who wanted to end his life.