Personalities belonging to the Kapu caste. (Website/Royal Kapus)Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly has passed bills that provide for five per cent reservation each for the Kapus (Kapus, Telaga, Ontari and Balija sub-castes) and other Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the general category, reports The Hindu.
“With the Centre giving 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker sections (EWS), the state has allotted half of that to the Kapus and its sub-castes in education and employment,” state Minister for BC welfare and transport, K Atchannaidu, had earlier stated while introducing the bill in the Assembly on 7 February 2019.
MLAs belonging to Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the ruling party in the state, thanked their Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for taking the courageous step of providing reservation quota to the Kapus. They also said that the community has been subject to injustice over the years by various parties.
There were no changes requested by the parties in the draft bill.
Poll Promise
The TDP, led by Naidu, had promised inclusion of the Kapus in the Backward Classes list in its 2014 election manifesto. Though Kapus have been demanding reservation in education and employment for long, the movement intensified in the last three years.
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