Govt to fix quota for backward Muslims within OBC soon

The government will soon take a decision on fixing a quota for Muslims within the 27 per cent quota fixed for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Law Minister Salman Khurshid said.

"Of the 27 per cent OBC quota in educational jobs, the government is examining to fix a quota for backward Muslims," he told reporters outside Parliament.

Khurshid said the decision on fixing a quota for backward Muslims within the OBC quota would be taken "soonest", but refused to give a timeline.

The decision is likely to be taken by the government in view of the Assembly polls in UP which has a sizeable population of Muslims.

The Law Minister said, "We have now reached two-and-a-half years of our term in Parliament. Therefore, whatever we have promised, now we have to start ticking that we have now fulfilled our promises. The decision will now come up before the Cabinet soonest."

He said the issue has been on the government's agenda for the last two years and a decision on it is pending and has to be decided soon.