Paswan suggests 15% reservation to upper castes

Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday recommended reservations to poor people of upper castes. Paswan also said that the Centre should constitute a committee for assessment of the poor in upper caste community.

Paswan said, "Even among upper castes, there are poor people, they shouldn't feel discriminated as they aren't given facilities like that of Dalits, tribals and backward classes. So our party (Lok Janshakti Party) forwarded the suggestion to give 15 per cent reservation to poor people of upper castes."

According to reports, Paswan clarified that he was speaking on behalf of his party and not the central government, and added that this has been his party's demand from the beginning.

Meanwhile, the upper caste leaders from Janata Dal-United (JDU) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have demanded reservation for the forward caste people who are economically worst than the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs /STs), reports ANI.

Industry and IT Minister Jai Kumar Singh, who belongs to JDU, said, "I am not against reservation to other castes but we demand reservation for those upper castes people who are really below the poverty line and living in the worst condition."