Kunbi tag for Marathas: 5-member committee gets two-month extension till Dec 24

The committee, formed through a Government Resolution (GR) on September 7, was initially given 30 days to prepare its report, which lapsed on October 7.

The committee has held nine meetings so far and, as per the discussions and instructions issued in the meetings, the complete records of Nizam period before 1967 and before 1948 (Revenue Records, Land Records, Police, Jail, Education Records, Birth and Death Certificates, Waqf Board, Service Records) are being checked, which as per the government will take some time.

“Since the records of the old Nizam era are in Urdu, Farsi and Modi languages, it is important to translate these records into Marathi language by the respective linguists in order to find the records of the Kunbi caste of the Maratha community. The work has been undertaken but more time must be given to it. Only after translation of those documents it will be easy to check/see the said record to find the records of Kunbi caste of Maratha community. So far about 1.5 crore records from the archives of various departments have been examined in all the districts of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division and the work is still in progress. The old records are in very deteriorating condition and it is becoming a tedious task to read them and find the records. This process takes a lot of time. Most of the documents are in Modi script or Urdu language and the authentication of the records is also in Farsi language. It is observed that language experts are not easily available. Apart from that, the availability of people with knowledge of Modi script is also limited and evidence/documents in Urdu and Modi lipi have to be translated in large quantities. So it will take time to check these records,” the GR issued by the government on Friday stated.

The committee members also intend to visit Hyderabad and inspect some more older records. However, currently the process of Assembly polls in Telangana is underway and the Model Code of Conduct is in force. Government officials in Telangana are busy with election-related work and the said tour will have to be organised according to their availability. The Upper Chief Secretary (Revenue), Government of Maharashtra, has sent a letter to the Principal Secretary (Revenue) of Telangana requesting to make Nizam records available for inspection, an official said.

“Most of the documents are dated prior to 1967. For the Modi script, the Department of Archives has issued orders to provide the services of four government employees and some experts from Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar area who have received training in Modi lipi. The Modi lipi and Urdu documents which need to be searched are being checked by these experts. These records are mostly available in Urdu and Modi lipi and the number of Kunbi caste records are also increasing everyday. Apart from that, the committee also has to hold discussions with the intellectual group of the society and the committee will use the suggestions and opinions of scholars, legal experts and experts while preparing its report. Hence considering the above matters, it will probably take another two months to prepare a complete and detailed report as per the mandate given to the overall committee,” it said.

Jarange Patil questions extension

Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil, who is on an indefinite fast in Jalna over the Maratha quota issue, targeted the government over the extension given to the committee, stating that it has been done so because the government is conspiring not to grant quota to the community. He questioned how the government could grant the extension without taking the Maratha community into confidence.