Why it is in news?

• The Rajasthan Assembly  passed a Bill which has increased reservation for Other Backward Classes in government jobs and educational institutions from 21% to 26%.
• The Bill created a new “most backward” category within the OBCs for providing the quota benefit to Gujjars and four other nomadic communities. 

About Bill

• The Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions in the State and of Appointment and Posts in Services under the State) Bill, 2017, has provided 5% reservation to the Gujjar, Banjara, Gadia-Lohar, Raika and Gadariya communities.
• With the Bill’s passage, reservation in Rajasthan now stands at 54%, exceeding the 50% ceiling mandated by the Supreme Court.
• The ninth session of the Assembly was adjourned sine die after the Bill was passed by voice vote.
• Gujjars and others were earlier roped in as a special backward class community and the State government had tried thrice to grant 5% reservation to them.
• However, the legislation was struck down every time by the Rajasthan High Court, which ruled that the quota had not only exceeded the 50% limit, but was also not supported by quantifiable data supporting the claim of Gujjars’ backwardness.

Increase in population

• Following an agitation by Gujjars, the Bharatiya Janata Party government had assured them that the revised OBC quota would be split to grant 5% quota to the “most backward classes”
• Social Justice and Empowerment Minister said while replying to debate on the Bill that the reservation had been enhanced in proportion to the increase in the State’s OBC population, which was “legally permissible”. 

Special circumstances

• as many as 91 communities were at present classified as OBCs, comprising 52% of the State’s population, and the State OBC Commission had recommended giving reservation to them.
• As per the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Indra Sawhney case, special circumstances exist in Rajasthan for giving reservation to OBCs beyond the 50% ceiling.