Thanks to the efforts of Saurabh Hatkar from the shepherds’ community, the Maharashtra government has increased the quota of scholarships for OBCs to study abroad. From 50 the seats for OBCs, freed castes, nomadic tribes and Special Backward Class students going for higher education abroad have been increased to 75. The seats were approved in the Vidhan Parishad as announced through the government`s information and technology Twitter account recently. Minister of OBC Welfare, Atul Save, also said the decision to include medical education in this will be taken in the Cabinet. Now Hatkar hopes to win his personal battle, that of a scholarship so he can study at the University of Edinburgh.

‘OBCs will benefit’

Countering the argument that seats should be given on merit and not caste, Hatkar, 29, said  “Generations of the people talking about merit are educated, but we are fighting for our community`s first generation to be educated. A member from the OBC who has an income above R8 lakh per annum cannot by law avail benefits for OBCs. In fact, for the scholarship abroad quota, we as a ‘lower caste’ did not have the most seats until this announcement. The system has allowed the ‘upper castes’ to enjoy superiority. These reservations will at least help OBCs come out of the shell.”