Ramdas Athawale seeks OBC quota for Indian Baloch community

At 101 years old, Jogeshwari resident Saira Makrani is a Balochistan origin Indian citizen whose parents, both stonebreakers, moved here in 1901. Life has not moved much for the centenarian, who continues to work as a washerwoman, or her family with her sons working as unskilled labourers and her grandsons as auto drivers.

It is perhaps with families like hers in mind that union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale announced on Wednesday that his ministry would lobby with the National Commission of Backward Classes (NCBC) to include the Indian Baloch community in the OBC (other backward classes) list.

The move, a first for the community, is significant considering the Modi government's recently revised strategy towards Balochistan to balance the Kashmir issue often exploited by Pakistan at the international level.

Athawale, who made the declaration in a press release, admitted that the quota move was in alignment with the same strategy, though he stressed that it was aimed at "social justice" for the underprivileged community. "Most Baloch settlers are still backward and into stone breaking work. Our ministry will ensure that NCBC grants them quota," Athawale told DNA over the phone.

The development was welcomed by Baloch leaders who have long been demanding special status for the community.

"Our community, which has been predominantly into stone breaking, has worked hard to give this city some of the iconic buildings. Unfortunately, most of us are still the same poor labourers. Quota would help the community scale the socio-economic ladder," said Mansoor Baloch, who held a community meet last week when Canadian resident and prominent Baloch leader Dr Neila Baloch visited Mumbai.

"The strong-built Balochs were brought for stone and hill-breaking which is the toughest job. The plush Walkeshwar area was built by our forefathers as was the Powai dam and pipelines supplying water to Mumbai from lakes in neighbouring districts," he added.

Citing Khandala born Makrani as an example, Baloch said her parents were amongst the 5,000 young Baloch tribals who were shipped to Mumbai via Karachi in 1901, said . They were brought in by the British government for a railway project.

Spread across several states, the same worker community from British-ruled Balochistan, now part of Pakistan, has grown into 10 lakh plus population across India. The community is still backward and is mostly involved in stone breaking and other unskilled works.

Over 10,000 descendants of the 1901 immigrants are settled in Maharashtra, including Mumbai (Jogeshwari, Andheri and Malwani and Virar), Akkalkuwa, Dhulia, Malegaon and Nadurbar, say community leaders. Gujarat has nearly 30,000 and the rest are spread across India, including Mathura and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

According to historians, several Baloch soldiers came to India along with Babar in the 16th century. Their descendants, too, are mainly settled in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. While most Haryana-based Baloch shifted to Pakistan at the time of partition, those in Uttar Pradesh chose to stay back.