• Source:PTI
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Maratha Reservation Stir: Activist Manoj Jarange Patil has called off his protest as the Maharashtra government, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, responded to the demands with a draft ordinance regarding reservation in education and jobs under the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category.

Late Friday night, Shinde sent a draft ordinance to Jarange regarding his various demands. The decision was taken after the chief minister held a meeting with officials to discuss the demands and later sent a delegation with a draft ordinance to meet an activist, a statement from the chief minister’s office said.

Amol Shinde, the personal secretary of the chief minister; Madhukar Arangal, the divisional commissioner of Aurangabad, and Secretary of the Department of Social Justice Sumant Bhange were among the delegation members.

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Earlier, the 40-year-old activist, who announced that he would resume his march towards Mumbai on Saturday and launch a hunger strike if the government did not meet his demands, made a fresh demand that the government amend its free education policy to include all Marathas until the benefit of reservation becomes available for the entire community.

He said that the free education policy should be amended so that boys also get free education besides girls, and all Marathas should get free education "from KG to PG" until the entire community gets reservation.

Jarange went on to say that he has sought data about the 37 lakh Kunbi certificates that the state government has issued. Since Kunbi is an agrarian group that belongs to the Other Backward Classes, Jarange has been demanding Kunbi certificates for all Marathas.

(With Agencies Inputs)