Rajasthan agrees to 4% special Gurjjar quota

The standoff between Gurjjars agitating for Scheduled Tribe status and the Rajasthan government ended today after the state agreed to provide 4 per cent reservation to the Gurjjar community under a special category. The state also agreed not to raise any objection to the mention of the Gurjjar tribe in the list of 23 caste/tribes sent by the Centre in December 1999, asking Rajasthan if it had any objection to the list under consideration for SC/ST reservation.

The Rajasthan government, sources said, has not agreed to make any specific recommendation of ST status for the Gurjjars but will not stand in the way of a list compiled by the Centre. Incidentally, the list is a compilation of castes and tribes recommended or forwarded by the state from time to time until 1999 for consideration of reservation.

The final announcement of the agreement will be made by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje tomorrow morning. She will make the “solution publicly known”. A senior Rajasthan BJP leader, part of the group representing the state government in talks, said that “the OBC and ST quotas might not be touched at all”.

Gurjjar leader K S Bainsla told The Indian Express: “The talks have been successful and a formal announcement will be made tomorrow morning. All I can say is that the Gurjjars have succeeded in getting a historical breakthrough.”

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Gurjjar quota hot potato is passed on to Law Ministry

With the Vasundhara Raje govemment passing the buck to the Centre on the Guijjar demand for ST status, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Law Minister HR Bhardwaj to discuss the matter.

Following Raje's latest letter to the PM,wherein she reiterated her earlier stance of seeking a separate category for Gujars, over and above the existing quotas, and giving them 4 to 6 per cent reservation, the Prime Minister's Office decided to refer the matter to the Law Ministry to examine such a possibility.

Today's meeting also saw a general appreciation of the fact that politics aside, the trouble in Rajasthan may not remain confined there and may spread to other states, including those ruled by the Congress, if not handled properly.

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Joining the dots: Sketch, Avon bike, underwear in bomb wrap

As investigators grope in the dark after yesterday's eight blasts in Jaipur that have now killed 63 and injured 118, the one ray of light is the striking similarity they have found between the explosives used in Jaipur and the one used in the twin explosions in Hyderabad last August. A team from Andhra Pradesh Police is set to arrive in Jaipur to help in the probe.

Contrary to claims by the local police, agencies here maintain that use of RDX is still not confirmed. It's learnt that ammonium nitrate was the principal explosive in Jaipur with an ammonium-based gel, possibly Neogel 90, that was also used in the twin explosions at Gokul Chaat Bhandar and Lumbini Park, Hyderabad. Sources said no RDX was found in the unexploded device that was defused just in time by the local bomb squad.

The Indian Express spoke to several investigators in Jaipur and New Delhi and police officials and the following have emerged as key leads in the case:

• Each bomb had an average of 7.5 kg of explosives and shrapnel packed into it. The bombs proved more lethal as they were "directional chargers," meaning on explosion the impact was focused in a particular direction to inflict maximum damage - similar bombs were used in last year's Hyderabad blast at the Gokul Chaat Bhandar.

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