Gurjars call off agitation for job quota in Rajasthan

The Gurjars, demanding 5% quota in jobs in Rajasthan, tonight called off their 17-day agitation after the state government assured them that it will complete within six months the collection of quantifiable data for the purpose.

"I have called off the agitation. I am satisfied with what the state government has offered to us," Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, spearheading the agitation, told reporters after holding talks with chief minister Ashok Gehlot and a committee of ministers appointed by the state government.

Bainsla and his team agreed with the government's assurance that it would complete the collection of quantifiable data within six months and keep 4% backlog of services.

"The government has promised that the quantifiable data shall be ready within six months. Four per cent backlog will be kept while 1% reservation will continue. Many other facilities for students have also been promised," Bainsla said after signing an agreement with the government in this regard.

Home minister Shanti Dhariwal said the government will file a review petition in the Rajasthan high court to consider 5% reservation under the special backward classes (SBC) category for Gurjars, Gadia Lohar, Raika-Rebari and Banjaras in Rajasthan till the quantifiable data exercise is completed.

Dhariwal said the government will complete the collection of quantifiable data within six months and submit it to the other backward classes (OBC) commission as directed by the high court on December 22 last year.

A delegation of around 40 members led by Bainsla first held a meeting with the committee of ministers comprising home minister Dhariwal, energy minister Jitendra Singh, himself a Gurjar, and transport minister BK Sharma for over seven hours.

After the meeting, the Gurjar leaders signed an agreement with the state government and later met Gehlot at the chief minister's office and called off the agitation.

According to the agreement, the government has promised to withdraw all cases lodged against the agitators. A three-member committee headed by additional chief secretary (home) PK Dev will decide upon 170  cases in which charge sheets have been filed in courts.

The committee will decide within two months on such cases. The remaining 254 cases lodged during 2010-11 will also be disposed of within the same duration.

The government said that 1% reservation for these communities will continue (under the Supreme Court-mandated reservation ceiling of 50%) and 4% vacancies will be kept reserved for the SBC to be filled later.

The government had already announced that it would start recruitments for one lakh vacant posts in the state services and now 4% (or 4,000 posts) will be kept reserved for the SBCs.

After completing the data collection exercise as directed by the high court, a special recruitment drive will be started to fill these vacancies within three months, the agreement said.

The agitation, which began on December 20, saw the Gurjars blocking several rail and road routes, causing hardships to people and losses to various industries in the state.

The agitators had been blocking the Mumbai-Delhi rail tracks at Pilukapura in Bharatpur, the Jaipur-Agra National Highway at Dausa, and several other roads.

The state government also assured the Gurjars that it would send the provisions of the state reservation act to the Centre for its inclusion in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.

The written agreement was signed by Bainsla, coordinator of the Gurjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (Reservation Struggle Committee) and additional chief secretary Dev. Eleven Gurjar delegates also signed the agreement as members.

Roop Singh, an aide of Bainsla, said the agitators squatting on the Delhi-Mumbai tracks at Pilukapura had been asked to vacate the tracks.