Ejaz Kaiser By

Express News Service

RAIPUR: The Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh took the route of the ordinance to raise the quota in favour of SC/ST/OBC besides the economically weaker section of the general category to a total of 82 per cent reservation in the state.

The Governor signed the ordinance — ‘Chhattisgarh Public Service (Reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs) Amendment Ordinance 2019”, which was published in the gazette and is now been effective for the state government jobs.

The decision comes months ahead of the elections to the Panchayati raj institutions and the urban bodies due later this year. The political analysts interpreted the move as an apparent attempt by the Congress to retain Chhattisgarh after the poll debacle the party suffered in this year Lok Sabha elections.

Almost half the state’s population comprises of OBC, the chief minister Bhupesh Baghel himself belong to an OBC category, where the quota has been raised from 14 to 27 per cent. The reservations for the Scheduled Caste (SC) and the Scheduled Tribe (ST) are at 13 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.

With additional 10 per cent earmarked for economically weaker section (EWS) segment of the general category, which the Bhupesh Baghel cabinet approved on August 27, the state now has with 82 per cent reservation quota, the highest in the country and breaches the Supreme Court’s 50 per cent cap on quota.