May consider quota by population proportion: Min

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday told Parliament that it is open to finding ways to accommodate the demands of providing reservation benefits to the disadvantaged sections in proportion to their increasing population.
Referring to the suggestion and demand made by BSP MP Veer Singh, social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot said, “He has given good suggestion for reservation provision in proportion to the population of Scehduled Castes.Every political party must try for that and we also do consultations. If you can create an environment, we can find some way out,“ he said while replying to a debate on the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill. With the passage of the Bill through Rajya Sabha, Parliament has cleared the extension of benefits to over two dozen castes.
Gehlot said that the population share of SC has increased to 16.8 per cent. The minister's statement gains importance considering the recent agitation by Jats in Haryana demanding benefit of reservation to the community .
Responding to concerns over losing of SCST status due to migration from one state to other and even from one district to another within a state, the minister said it was up to the state governments to recognise such castes and provide benefits. Gehlot also said the government was making efforts to release the caste census at the earliest.
Earlier in the day, CPM MP K Somaprasad had also demanded that the government should consider increasing quota benefits in proportion to the growing population of backward classes. “ As per the 2011 census data, the population of SCSTs is 25.2 per cent, while the reservation is 22.5 per cent. So, reservation should be increased in proportion to the population,“ he said.
The MP added that reservation benefit is a constitutional right of SC STs but some are denied of the benefit and expressed concern that backward classes were not getting SCST status after migration because some states do not recognise those castes for reservation benefits.
Tapan Kumar Sen of CPM also joined the demand stating this as a “constitutional impropriety“, which Centre must address.