MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The members of the Jat community, listed as upper caste, have been protesting demanding job quotas in government structures and educational institutions like the members of socially and educationally disadvantaged castes.
The protests left some 10 million people without water.
The Jat community has been traditionally regarded as upper caste, but demanded to be recategorized as an Other Backward Castes (OBC) group, a government classification indicating social and educational disadvantage. This would include them in quotas for more stable government jobs and educational programs.
The national government initially granted them OBC status in 2014, but the top court then overrode the decision, arguing that Jats were not "backward."
In late January, similar protests took place in the southeastern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Protesters set a train, two police stations and 25 vehicles on fire, with 15 policemen and four railway employees injured in the violence. In August 2015, the Patidar community in Gujarat organized a mass rally also seeking governmental quotas, as a result of which left eight people died.
