08 How Poori sabji or paratha and tea `25 Breakfast Bus fare (Mangolpuri to ITO) `30 Home to work and back Chhole & chawal `20 Lunch A cutting chai and 2 boiled eggs Vada pav at a local shop Cutting chai Mankhurd slum to CST via 2nd class local train `18 `15 `6 `10 Breakfast Home to work Lunch Evening refreshment Tea (`5) and idli (`1) at Amma Canteen Breakfast Sambhar & rice at Amma Canteen `5 Lunch ccording to the recent Rangarajan panel re- port on poverty, those spending more than `47 per day in a city are not poor. ET Maga- zine decided to conduct a simple experi- ment: track an underprivileged persons A expensive Tea `6 Evening refreshment 2 idli & 1 vada `20 Breakfast Kengeri to Richmond Road via bus (using a monthly bus pass) `13 Home to work Sambar & rice `30 Lunch B A N G A L O R E C H E N N A I `6 From Kannagi Nagar Kuppam to Guindy by bus `12 Home to work D E L H I M U M B A I While the Marathas are often clubbed with Kun- bis, an agrarian community, many say they are dif- ferent. The Maratha-Kunbi cluster is said to account for 32-34% of Maharashtras population, with Mar- athas alone accounting for 25%. Given the close links between the two communities, it has caused the Marathas much consternation that Kunbis have res- ervation, thanks to their inclusion in the OBC cate- gory, and they do not. Marathas have said they are no different from Kunbis, but that has been disputed repeatedly by commissions set up by the central and state governments over the past six decades. The Maharashtra State Backward Class Commis- sion and its predecessor have in the past 21 years issued nine reports stating the Marathas do not need reservation. The most recent of those came in 2008 when Justice RM Bapat headed the commis- sion. The government rejected the report but has not yet placed on record the reasons for its rejec- tion. Moreover, three central government-appoint- ed commissions have also rejected the inclusion of the Marathas in OBC category. Other controversies related to reservation in recent years include the demand of Gujjars to be given scheduled tribes (ST) status in Rajasthan, and the central governments inclusion of Jats in the OBC bracket in nine states. Crowded Reservation List The Maharashtra government in March 2013 set up a cabinet committee headed by industries minister Narayan Rane, a Maratha himself, to look into reser- vation for the community. A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in 2009 against the government deci- sion to pursue ways to provide reservation to the Marathas despite Bapats report. Following the June 26 decision, two other PILs were filed, opposing the reservation. Maharashtra governor K Sankaranaray- anan has reportedly signed off on the governments ordinance to bring into effect the reservation and the government stated on June 9 it would issue a notifi- cation in this regard within a week. Maharashtra already has 52% reservation, in- cluding 19% for OBCs, so with the 16% reservation for the Marathas and 5% for Muslims, the total will go up to 73% higher than Tamil Nadus 69% which may not pass legal muster. The ordinance is unconstitutional. The government knows it wont stand legal scrutiny. Its just for the election and if it is stayed, which it will be, they can just tell people they have done what they could, says Sangharaj Rupawate, a lawyer representing Rajaram Kharat, who filed the PIL in 2009. Law in the Way Jayant Patil, minister for rural development in Ma- harashtra, says there is no link between the election and the announcement. It has been in the works for a while. There is economic backwardness in the Maratha community which even some members of the Bapat committee admitted, he adds. While there is no data publicly available to substantiate this claim, a study done by economists at the Uni- versity of British Columbia in 2006-07 suggests they own the most land in 59% of the villages in the state. Individuals land holding may not be much but if you look at the family or clan as a whole, it is high, says Birmal. Marathas are also said to control about 85% of the states sugar mills and nearly three- fourths of its cooperative institutions. While the Mandal Commission report in 1980 raised the total reservation from 22.5% to 49.5%, in- cluding 27% for OBCs, it said total reservation should not exceed 50% as per the Constitution, but Tamil Nadu had already raised its total reservation to 69%. While it has been challenged in the Supreme Court, Tamil Nadu continues with its reservation quota while Karnataka in 2010 was restrained by the apex from raising its reservation to 73%. The reservation for Muslims could also encounter legal opposition. Whenever Congress-NCP is on the verge of defeat, they play the caste and communal card, says Tawde. It is as yet unclear what the governments plan B is if the judiciary puts the reservation on hold before the election; clearly the Congress-NCP alli- ance needs more arrows in their quiver and sub- stantial ones, to boot for a win. tion. The BJP-led National Demo- cratic Alliance won 42 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, up from just 20 in 2009, while the Con- gress-led United Progressive Alli- ances tally dropped to just six from 25 five years ago. Drift From Congress While Marathas were traditionally back- ers of the Congress, and later the NCP, some started migrating toward the BJP-Shiv Sena camp since the turn of the century. For instance, the share of Maratha-Kunbi (a related caste) voters who voted for the UPA dropped from 52% in 1999 to 39% in 2014. Nitin Birmal, an associate professor at Dr Ambedkar Art & Commerce College, Pune, says the reservation may help the ruling combine in the Mar- athwada region and to an extent in western Maha- rashtra, considered Pawars stronghold, but not in the Vidarbha, Konkan and Mumbai-Thane regions. BJP-Shiv Sena have a big chance of winning if they are not fighting among themselves, adds Birmal. Since its chief ministerial aspirant Gopinath Mundes death last month, the BJP has been strug- gling to decide whom to replace him with, while facing increasing pressure from the Shiv Sena to accept its chief Uddhav Thackeray as the alliances CM candidate. The Congress and NCP have their own share of troubles with leaders of both parties demanding Prithviraj Chavans removal as CM be- fore the election. Moreover, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, headed by Uddhavs estranged cousin Raj, who has opposed the Maratha reserva- tion, is expected to queer the pitch with a better performance than in 2009. Farmers Come a Cropper Kishor Tiwari, an agricultural activist from the Vid- arbha region, says the farming community as a whole, and not just Marathas, will vote against the government for its inaction on farmers problems including drought, loans and inadequate minimum prices for their produce. Maharashtra registered a decline of 1.4% in the agri-sector in 2012-13 and over 60,000 farmers have killed themselves since 1995. Though they are highly indebted, only 2% of those who committed suicide were Marathas, says Ti- wari. While they may be better off than other farm- ing communities, many agree that most small Mara- tha farmers are in dire straits and there is an urge among them to move away from agriculture and villages for a better livelihood. The demand for Maratha reservation, which has gained momentum in the past decade, is an interest- ing turn of events since the upper-caste Marathas were strongly against reservation till the 1980s. Of- ten dubbed a dominant caste, the Marathas trace their lineage to a warrior-agriculturalist caste. The community is best known to outsiders by the 17th century king Shivaji Bhosale, who to date remains the most evocative symbol of Maratha pride. in focus JULY 13-19, 2014 21 Even if the judiciary does not strike it down before the assembly election, thereservationissaidtogarner Congress-NCPvotesprimarilyin westernMaharashtraandthe Marathwadabutnotinthe Vidarbha, Konkanand Mumbai-Thaneregions DOMINANT OR BACKWARD? Reservation in Maharashtra Prominent Maratha Leaders in the State 19 Special Backward Classes 2 Denotified and Nomadic Tribes 11 Muslims* 5 Other Backward Classes Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar (NCP) Ashok Chavan (Congress) Prithviraj Chavan (Congress) Vinod Tawde (BJP) Narayan Rane (Congress) 13 Scheduled Castes Marathas* Others 16 27 The Shiv Sena-BJP-led Mahayuti could attack Congress-NCP on giving only 16% reservation for Marathas while the communitys original demand was 25% and a cabinet committee earlier this year recommended 20% is it really to live