Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/C...ow/2590354.cms
Jats join line for OBC status
3 Dec 2007, 0142 hrs IST,Ramaninder K Bhatia,TNN
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CHANDIGARH: For a community which walks with a swagger and proclaims from car windows and truck bumpers about being Putt Jattan De (we are landlords), here comes a reality check. On December 4, members of this largely rural community of landlords are all set to demand OBC status for the community on the basis of economic hardships that the small farmers are facing in the state today.
The demand would be part of the charter put up by the Punjab unit of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta) during a kisan mahapanchayat at Moga on December 4 as part of its nationwide programme. "Who cares about social status when economically hit Jat farmers are forced to commit suicides or live in perpetual debt," Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, chairman of Punjab Mandi Board and head of BKU said on Sunday.
"UP and Rajasthan have already granted this status to the Jat community in their states, so why shouldn't we," he pointed out. "The land, which was the basis of their survival and pride, is no longer available or profitable and farming is no longer providing them money, so let the backward status help them now, since the government is unable to find a solutions to the hardships they face," he said.
However, the demand is not going down well with many from the community. "At least I would not like to be called member of a backward community," Dr SS Johl, noted farm economist declares. "That's because many of us have done well and are leading contended lives and not because it has anything to do with caste," he explains.
Blaming the "wrong policies" Dr Johl says that giving benefits of reservations on the basis of caste has led to almost every other community seeking OBC status. "Why not make economic status the criteria?" he asks. Lakhowal agrees with the contention and says that economic criteria as the basis of reservation would the ideal situation. "But if the union government cannot change its policies, then the Jats would rather have the OBC status and enjoy its benefits, than go on committing suicides because they have nothing to fall back upon," he says. The debate is just starting.