Maharashtra Assembly today unanimously passed a bill proposing 16 per cent reservation for Marathas under socially and educationally backward category.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who tabled the Bill, thanked Opposition members for helping in passage of the Bill unanimously.The Bill provides for reservation of seats for admission in educational institutions and posts in public services to Marathas who have been declared as socially and educationally backward class of citizens.

Demand for reservation pending since the 1980:

• Demand for reservation of Marathas was pending since the 1980
• State Backward Commission has examined the backwardness of the Marathas on social, educational and economic basis on 25 different parameters.
• The status of Maratha was found pathetic on all the parameters. During this survey, the situation of 43 thousand Maratha families was known.