In a major decision ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in five states, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved reservation for minorities under the Other Backward Castes category.
The reservation for the Muslims will be effective from January 01, 2012.
The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, took the decision that would pave way for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for minorities as defined in section 2 (C) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) are notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the Act.
The decision is based on the recommendation of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities.
"The caste and communities of the said minorities which are included in the central list of OBCs notified from time to time by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment shall be covered by the said sub quota
