Central government should support Maratha quota: Congress MP Rajeev Satav

New Delhi: The Central government was on Tuesday urged in Rajya Sabha to support quota for Marathas in jobs and education.

Raising the issue through a Zero Hour mention, Rajeev Satav of the Congress said the Supreme Court has referred the issue of quotas for Marathas in jobs and education to a larger bench.

The Central government, he said, had not placed its view when the issue was considered by a three-judge bench.

But before the larger bench, "the central government should along with state government (of Maharashtra) support Maratha reservation," he said.

Last week, the Supreme Court imposed an interim stay on quotas in jobs and education to Marathas and referred the matter to a larger bench to examine if the 2018 law, which breached the 50 per cent apex court-mandated cap in the cast-based reservation, was legal.

The law originally provided a 16 per cent quota but in June 2019, the Bombay High Court trimmed it to 12 per cent in education and 13 per cent in jobs.

Sambaji Chhatrapati (BJP) too raised the issue of quota for Marathas.

YSRCP MP Vijay Sai Reddy urged the Central government to immediately release Rs 3,805 crore towards the Polavaram project.

Since the project is classified as a national project, it has to be funded by the central government, he said adding the state government had released Rs 3,805 crore for the project.

The amount spent has also now been audited by the CAG, he said adding the Andhra Pradesh government is finding it difficult to spend further money on the construction of Polavaram in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Release of funds will ensure the completion of the Polavaram by the target date of December 2021, he stated.

Responding to it, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured the MP that the matter will be looked into in coordination with the Water Resources Minister.

Vikas Mahatme of the BJP raised the issue of abusive language and explicit scenes being telecast in web series and wanted a law to be brought to regulate such content.

While Chhaya Verma (Cong) wanted employment guaranteed under MNREGA to be doubled to 200 days in view of distress in the country, K R Suresh Reddy (TRS) demanded setting up of a tribunal to decide on the sharing of Krishna river water.

M Shanmugam (DMK) urged the government to expand the ambit of the PM Kisan Yojana to tenant and lease holding farmers.

Under the scheme, Rs 6,000 per year in three equal installments is provided to small and marginal farmer families having landholding/ownership of up to 2 hectares.

Ripun Bora (Cong) sought a package for the revival of paper mills in Assam.