Former MP urges government to classify Karaikal fishermen as MBC

Flagging the long-standing demand of fishermen in Karaikal for inclusion in the list of Most Backward Classes, former MP M. Ramadass urged the government to immediately constitute the defunct State-level Backward Classes Commission (SLBCC) to implement the plea.

Flagging the long-standing demand of fishermen in Karaikal for inclusion in the list of Most Backward Classes, former MP M. Ramadass urged the government to immediately constitute the defunct State-level Backward Classes Commission (SLBCC) to implement the plea.

In a statement, Mr. Ramadass said the fishermen of Karaikal have been clamouring for the transfer back of fishermen community of Karaikal from the existing list of Extreme Backward Classes (EBC) to Most Backward Classes (MBC) of the Government of Puducherry for the last 13 years.

The Government of Puducherry neither took an affirmative action nor referred the demand to the State-level Backward Classes Commission (SLBCC) Puducherry. It was in 2005 that the government notified 12 communities, including the fishermen of the Union Territory of Puducherry, as MBC and earmarked 20% reservation out of maximum 50% reservation of the government in jobs and education — a social measure that benefited the fishermen of Karaikal region to secure opportunities in jobs and education.

However, in 2010 the government created a special category called EBC and extended 2% reservation out of the MBC reservation of 20 per cent to them. Strangely, the fishermen of Karaikal were listed in EBC, while their counterparts in Mahe and Yanam continued to remain in the MBC category.

As a result of being classified as EBC, fishermen in this region were compelled to compete in the 2 per cent reservation offered to Puducherry and Karaikal students and in the skewed scenario, no student of Karaikal could get a seat either in an educational institution (both school and higher education) or secure jobs. Even in the general reservation of 18 per cent of seats allotted to all the students of Karaikal region, Karaikal fishermen students could not compete among general candidates and get a seat.

This inexplicable injustice is continuing for the last 13 years since 2010 and no MLA from Karaikal has bothered to rectify this grievance, Mr. Ramadass said.

When the community represented the matter in the Madras High Court, the Government of Puducherry submitted that this issue could be sorted out in the SLBCC. The High Court, accepting the submission of the government directed the petitioner to approach the SLBCC. But unfortunately the tenure of the SLBCC ended in 2018 and since then for the last five years it remained defunct, he said.