What relevance does the Hyderabad Gazetteer have for Marathas of Marathwada?

The Hyderabad Gazetteer has records of the region, its geography, population, castes and communities, occupations, agriculture, and rainfall, and importantly, it classifies Marathas of the region as Kunbis

Mumbai: What is the Hyderabad Gazetteer and what is its relevance for Maharashtra vis-à-vis the Maratha reservation issue?

It is perhaps the best immediate solution to the crisis.

The term Marathwada literally means the house of Marathi-speaking people. It was part of the erstwhile Hyderabad State, a princely State in the Deccan region, governed by the Nizam of Hyderabad.

After the Partition of India in 1947, the region saw what is known as the Annexation of Hyderabad through Operation Polo from 13 to 18 September, 1948. In fact, the Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din or Marathwada Liberation Day is celebrated on 17 September annually.

Marathwada became part of Maharashtra on 1 May, 1960, when the State of Maharashtra was formed after the dissolution of Bombay State.

Marathwada now has eight districts — Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (earlier Aurangabad), Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Dharashiv (earlier Osmanabad), and Parbhani.

The region borders the States of Karnataka and Telangana while within Maharashtra — one side is Vidarbha and on the other is North Maharashtra.

Two years ago when Manoj Jarange-Patil launched his agitation, he asked for Marathas in Marathwada to be given reservation and later suggested a blanket order of declarations of Marathas as Kunbis and enable them to get reservation in jobs and education.

Kunbis, a sub-caste of the Marathas, a predominantly agrarian community which comes within the ambit of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

In the Vidarbha region, the Marathas are registered as Kunbis while a few from Konkan and North Maharashtra have enrolled themselves as Kunbis.

The Maharashtra government has sought time of two months to work out legal issues on the aspect whether all Marathas can be declared as Kunbis and one month to study the Satara Sansthan Gazetteer, which largely covers Western Maharashtra.

There are other gazettes as well — Bombay Gazetteer and Aundh Gazetteer.

However, the government has decided to implement the Hyderabad Gazetteer of 1918 with immediate effect and issued a government resolution (GR) — which will largely cover Marathwada, a region which is drought prone.

The Hyderabad Gazetteer has records of the region, its geography, details its population, castes and communities, occupations, agriculture, rainfall and so on — and importantly, it classifies Marathas of the region as Kunbis.

After Jarange-Patil ended his five-day hunger strike at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who has a law background, offered a detailed explanation on the issue.

“We have found a way out and accepted their most prominent demand to implement the Hyderabad Gazetteer. They were demanding that it be implemented for all Marathas. But we tried to convince them that a reservation is not for a group but for individuals, hence this kind of decision cannot be taken as proof is needed for that. The Hyderabad Gazetteer will be of help as proof as an individual has to claim reservation. If their ancestors' name is found in the Hyderabad Gazetteer in the Kunbi caste list, then it will benefit them, and as per the rule, they will be able to get a certificate and reservation,” said Fadnavis who is also the Home Minister and Law and Judiciary Minister.

Committees would be constituted to facilitate the issuance of Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas who are able to produce documentary evidence recognising them as Kunbis in the past.

The government resolution states: “In accordance with the historical references contained in the Hyderabad Gazetteer, a dedicated scrutiny process shall be conducted to verify documents and establish eligibility of persons from the Maratha community for Kunbi caste certificates. The committee shall ensure that every claim is assessed in a time-bound and transparent manner.”

The panel will include gram sevak, talathi and assistant agriculture officer as members. These officials will verify the documentary claims of applicants from the Maratha community and submit their findings to the competent authority for issuance of certificates.

According to Jarange-Patil, during the scrutiny as many as 58 lakh entries of Kunbi-Marathas and Maratha-Kunbis have been found.