MUMBAI: Considering that the issue of the Maratha reservation has become a prominent issue especially after last week's incident of the police baton-charging and lobbing tear gas shells to disperse a violent mob at Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna district where Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil was on a fast, injuring several protestors the government has announced certain key measures. 

Amid demands for Kunbi certificates for all members of the Maratha community, the Maharashtra cabinet has decided that Kunbi caste certificates will be issued to those Marathas, particularly from the Marathwada region who possess revenue, education documents or other supporting documents from the Nizam era that recognise them as Kunbis.

The announcement of the cabinet decision was made by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde who said that the state government was committed to giving the reservations to the Maratha community in the state and it was making all efforts to do so at the earliest. 

The Marathwada region was part of the erstwhile Hyderabad kingdom before it became part of Maharashtra and thus while making, the CM also said that he would contact the chief minister of Telangana to seek assistance in this matter. 

Shinde said that the government has formed a five-member committee under retired Justice Sandeep Shinde to prepare a standard operating procedure to verify the old documents within a month and a government resolution (GR) to that effect has been issued.

The Kunbi community (the agrarian community) are grouped under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in Maharashtra and they are eligible to get reservation benefits that OBCs get in the state like securing a job, admissions in educational institutes, relaxation of certain limits like age, etc and for specific programs announced by the government. 

The Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil who has been on an indefinite fast at Antarwali Sarathi has however maintained that he will not withdraw his hunger strike unless the Maharashtra government makes improvements to this resolution and has demanded Kunbi certificates for all members of the Maratha community.