Hyderabad: The Federation of Other Castes (OC) Social Welfare Associations has called for a Maha dharna on Feb 23 in Delhi with the demand for the creation of a separate national commission to effectively implement Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) reservations and political reservations for EWS.The federation’s national president, Poladi Rama Rao, invited Union minister Bandi Sanjay to the Maha dharna, on Sunday in Karimnagar, seeking his cooperation in meeting their demands. The minister also released the poster for the Maha dharna. During the preparatory meeting, Rama Rao stated that the economically weaker sections within the upper castes were unable to benefit from welfare schemes or secure political positions due to a lack of reservations.Stating that the absence of political reservations caused significant injustice to OCs, he said that, in the recent Sarpanch elections, OC candidates had been unable to compete with the financial and physical strength of others in general seats. This had resulted in less than 50% of seats being won by OCs. He criticised the ongoing injustice to OCs due to vote bank politics, stating that the OC JAC’s goal is to ensure justice for all communities in all fields.The national president demanded that the age limit for education, employment and competitive exams for OC EWS students be increased and that backlog posts allocated to EWS be filled immediately by individuals from these categories. He asked the Centre to increase the income limit for issuing EWS certificates to 10 lakh, and for all central and state govt welfare schemes to be extended to the poor within the OC community.Rama Rao said that the federation would not allow conspiracies against EWS reservations. He made it clear that there was false propaganda and conspiracies for personal gain against the constitutionally established 10% EWS reservations. He said some leaders were misleading people within certain communities about the constitutionally established 10% EWS reservations.To achieve these demands and make arrangements for the massive dharna, a committee was appointed with Ravula Narsimha Reddy, Gangu Upendra Sharma, Tadishetti Pashupathi, and Rontala Keshava Reddy, among others.
