Govt approves implementation of Hyderabad Gazetteer for Kunbi-Marathas

The subcommittee of Maharashtra government has agreed to activist Manoj Jaranges demands regarding the implementation of the Hyderabad Gazetteer stating that Marathas possessing Kunbi records will be issued caste certificates following a proper verification processA cabinet subcommittee headed by state minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil visited Jarange at Azad Maidan on Saturday afternoonA Government Resolution GR was also issued immediately after a meeting was was held between the government representatives and Manoj JarangeThe Satara Gazetteer would be implemented within a month sources saidManoj Jarange had been on a hunger strike in Mumbais Azad Maidan and tens of thousands of his supporters had been camping in Mumbai since last week FridayAn official notification said that the Marathwada became part of the bilingual Bombay State on November 1 1956 and became an integral part of Maharashtra from May 1 1960 During the Nizamrsquos rule the administrative system in the Marathwada region was under the control of the Nizam government There were significant differences between the administrative practices of the British rule and that of the Nizam In recent times largescale protests have taken place in Marathwada regarding reservation In this context to trace records of Kunbi KunbiMaratha and MarathaKunbi castes in this region and to provide justice to the people a committee was established under the chairmanship of Justice Sandeep Shinde Retired on September 7 2023It said that the committee was provided with the necessary mechanisms to trace records across all eight districts of Marathwada The committee examined all types of documents available in various government offices and discovered a significant number of previously untraced Kunbi caste records The committee conducted districtwise visits and meetings in Marathwada As necessary the committee visited the archival and revenue departments in Hyderabad twice and collected more than 7000 documents for study considering Hyderabad was the capital of the Nizam stateTo collect records from the era of the Nizam and the national census the committee visited the census office and library in Delhi They also attempted to retrieve documents from the National Archives of India in Delhi Additionally private individuals in Marathwada who possessed relevant documents useful for obtaining caste certificates were approached and efforts were made to collect such documents Over the past two years the committee under Justice Sandeep Shinde Retired has carried out extensive fieldwork across Maharashtra to find Kunbi records All the recommendations made in the various reports submitted by the committee have been accepted by the government and action has been taken accordingly The government will continue to act on the committees recommendations in the future the official notification saidHowever in Marathwada there is still a significant population of the KunbiMaratha community who are repeatedly demanding that the Hyderabad Gazette be accepted as valid proof for caste certification Justice Sandeep Shinde Retired has been instructed to study and submit a report regarding the applicability of the Hyderabad Satara and Bombay Gazettes Accordingly the committee has been granted an extension till December 31 2025 it saidThe notification further said that in this regard the committee has conducted visits to Hyderabad and Delhi and collected information from five districts that were under the Nizam regime Aurangabad Parbhani Nanded Beed and Osmanabad These documents are currently under review In the Nizams government the Kunbi caste was referred to as Kapu whose primary occupation was agriculture The documents and gazetteers from 1921 and 1931 include references to the KunbiKapu community Previously under Section 181 of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes DeNotified Tribes Nomadic Tribes Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category Regulation of Issuance and Verification of Caste Certificates Act 2000 and Rule 42ch of the 2012 Rules notifications were issued to include various archival records Based on the recommendations of the Shinde Committee new rules ndash Maharashtra Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes DeNotified Tribes Nomadic Tribes Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category Issuance and Verification of Caste Certificate Amendment Rules 2024 ndash were published on 18th July 2024As a result members of the Maratha community have benefited by obtaining certificates under the categories of Kunbi KunbiMaratha or MarathaKunbiTo further simplify this process the government has taken the following decisionAs per References No1 and No3 rules were created under the Maharashtra Act No 23 of 2001 for the issuance and verification of caste certificates Based on the records found in the Hyderabad Gazetteer the government has decided to form villagelevel committees to assist in verifying eligibility and providing Kunbi MarathaKunbi or KunbiMaratha caste certificates to eligible persons from the Maratha communityCommittee Members would includeVillage Revenue Officer Gram Panchayat Officer andAssistant Agriculture OfficerThe notification further said that if the applicant from the Maratha community does not have proof of land ownership including landless persons farm labourers or sharecroppers they must submit an affidavit stating that they or their ancestors were residing in the respective local area before October 13 1967 Based on such affidavits and relevant supporting documents the competent authority shall carry out a local investigation If during this inquiry relatives or villagers of the applicant who already possess Kunbi caste certificates are willing to give affidavits confirming the applicantrsquos Kunbi lineage the local committee shall collect these affidavits The villagelevel committee with assistance from the genealogy family tree committee shall verify the claimThe competent authority will make a decision regarding the issuance of the Kunbi caste certificate to the applicant it said Inputs from Sanjeev Shivdekar