Ajit Pawar, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, said on Friday that he will meet with deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and chief minister Eknath Shinde to propose a 5% quota for the Muslim population in school admissions.
When it implemented a quota in employment and education for the Maratha community, the then-Congress-led government in 2014 gave Muslims 5% of the seats in educational institutions.
However, when the BJP-Shiv Sena administration that followed them introduced laws to provide Marathas reservation, they eliminated the Muslim quota.
Speaking at a meeting of the Minority Welfare Department held at the state capital, Mantralaya, Pawar said that, unlike the Maratha reservation, the minority community’s 5% educational quota had not encountered any legal obstacles.
He said, “I will speak with Shinde and Fadnavis before making a decision.
Pawar, who also oversees finance, promised that the Maulana Azad Economic Development Corporation would be subject to the recommendations made by a committee led by the chief secretary to bring uniformity to the programs run by organizations like the Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute (BARTI), Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Research and Training Institute (SARTHI), and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Research and Training Institute (MAHAJYOTI).
The Azad company, established for the benefit of the Muslim minority, will also get extra funding. According to Pawar, the corporation should determine if its lending programs may be connected to the PM Vishwakarma plan, which the Union government just launched.
