Chopra Committee likely to submit report today on Gujjar’s ST demand

Dec 15: Justice Jasraj Chopra Committee in Rajasthan is likely to submit its report on Gujjar’s demand to the Schedule Tribe status.

The committee set up by the BJP government In Rajasthan under Justice Chopra to look into the matter of Gujjar’s demand to be incorporated their community into the “Schedule Tribe” caste is likely to submit its report today which will be forwarded further to the central government as early as possible.

“The report by Justice Chopra Committee would be submitted to the Chief Minister today as per schedule and further would be sent to the Centre,” said BJP president Mahesh Sharma.

He assured the report would not affect the status of other communities already benefiting under SC, ST or OBC category in the state.

The Committee was constituted by the State Government on June 13 in an agreement with the peace understanding signed between Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia and representatives of the Gujjar Reservation Action Committee headed by Colonel Kirodi Singh Bainsla.

Gujjars presently belong to the Other Backward Class (OBC) held protest across the state from May 19 to June 4 this year. Normal life was paralysed and as per reports 26 people were killed during Gujjar’s agitation.

Although the movement had been building up over the years, but it got listed into their primary agenda after the BJPs election manifesto in Rajasthan had itself promised their up gradation from their current OBC status.

The Gujjar protest was all about entitlements in job and educational institutions and the perception that in the last 15 years Mina community has gone far ahead of the Gujjars.They contend that Minas have high representation in all jobs, having good standard of life, despite that they are enjoying ST status and Gujjars are being discriminated by the government as they are most backward in comparison to Meena. So naturally they should be incorporated into ST quota.

On the other hand Meena community had been opposing the demand of Gujjars for Schedule Tribe status as they thought their incorporation would affect the status of Meenas.

The Gujjars of Kashmir are Muslims with a nomadic lifestyle that subsists on Sheep Rearing. It was this community that earned the Scheduled Tribe status in 1991 under the Chandrashekar regime.

The Chopra committee was initially allocated a term of three months for the submission of the report, which lasted on September 15. It was further extended for three months to accomplish the task by December 15.