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KOLKATA: With an eye on the minority vote banks in the state, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-led Left Front Government of West Bengal on Monday announced reservation of 10 percent jobs in government departments for socially, educationally and economically backward Muslims under the OBC category. There is at present 7 percent reservation for OBCs in the state.
Elections in the 82 municipalities and municipal corporations in the state are slated for the middle of the year and state Assembly elections will be held in 2011.
The Left Front Government has seen a dent in its minority vote banks in the recently concluded elections in the state and the Lok Sabha elections.
Bhattacharjee told news persons at Writers’ Buildings that the quota was not on the basis of religion but of backwardness.
The Chief Minister’s announcement came after the recommendations of the Justice Ranganathan Mishra panel on jobs for the minority and the status of religious and linguistic minorities in the country as a whole.
Bhattacharjee said the government would begin its survey with the help of the Minority Commission and other bodies in the state. He said the job reservation would exclude the creamy layer, or those whose annual income is above Rs 4.5 lakh.
Elections in the 82 municipalities and municipal corporations in the state are slated for the middle of the year and state Assembly elections will be held in 2011.
The Left Front Government has seen a dent in its minority vote banks in the recently concluded elections in the state and the Lok Sabha elections.
Bhattacharjee told news persons at Writers’ Buildings that the quota was not on the basis of religion but of backwardness.
The Chief Minister’s announcement came after the recommendations of the Justice Ranganathan Mishra panel on jobs for the minority and the status of religious and linguistic minorities in the country as a whole.
Bhattacharjee said the government would begin its survey with the help of the Minority Commission and other bodies in the state. He said the job reservation would exclude the creamy layer, or those whose annual income is above Rs 4.5 lakh.
