Telangana assembly to pass resolution for 12 percent Muslim quota

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday said the state assembly will pass a resolution for 12 percent quota to Muslims in the state and send it to the central government.

Reiterating his commitment to increase the reservation for the community in education and employment, he told the assembly that the panel studying the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims in the state will soon submit its report.

"Once we get the report, we will know the ground realities. We will pass a resolution in the house and we will go to the centre," he said while replying to debate on minorities welfare.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had promised during the elections that Muslims will be provided 12 percent reservation in proportion to their population.

Muslims in Telangana currently enjoy four percent reservation in education and employment under a separate category of backward classes.

Since the 12 percent reservations to Muslims will take the overall quota to over 50 percent, the state will have to request the central government for a constitutional amendment.

KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, said the government had already constituted a committee headed by former bureaucrat G. Sudhir to study the socio-economic conditions of Muslims.

In July, KCR named Amirullah Khan and Abdul Shaban as the members of the commission. They were members of Kundu committee or the post Sachar evaluation committee which submitted its report to the central government in December last year.

The chief minister told Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi in the assembly that the panel is working hard and evaluating all the data.

Assuring justice to Muslims in every sphere of life, the chief minister said he is a firm believer that the state can progress only if all sections of people are happy.

Alleging that the Muslims were ignored by the governments in undivided Andhra Pradesh, he promised that they will get their due share in Telangana.

Pointing out that Rs.1,105 crore were allotted for the minorities welfare in the budget for the current year, he said it was regrettable that the money is not being spent.

KCR said a committee headed by Director General of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) A. K. Khan is looking into the issue. He announced that an all-party meeting will also be called in this regard.

He assured Owaisi that all vacancies will be filled in minorities welfare department and Wakf Board to ensure that the money allocated for the welfare is spent.

He announced setting up minorities residential society on the lines of SC residential society to set up residential educational instiutions.

He also promised to clear hurdles in a new scheme announced by him to send students from minorities abroad for higher education.