Mumbai, Oct 10 (IANS): In the run-up to the Assembly election, the Maharashtra Cabinet on Thursday decided to recommend to the Centre for an increase in the non-creamy layer income cap from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 15 lakh a year for OBCs which will enable more people from the OBC community to get the benefit of the schemes.

The decision was taken in the wake of poor response from OBC voters in the Lok Sabha elections. The government hopes with this decision the OBCs will support the MahaYuti in the upcoming Assembly election.

The minister of OBC Atul Save during the monsoon session had told the state Assembly that the government has received representations to increase the income limit from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 15 lakh so that higher-income families can also avail of OBC reservation and schemes. This income limit is fixed through the Department of Personnel and Training of the Union government.

Thursday’s Cabinet decision is crucial when various OBC organisations have been protesting against giving reservation benefits from their quota to the Maratha community.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet also gave the nod to increase the share capital of Maulana Azad Minorities Financial Development Corporation to Rs 1,000 crore from the present level of Rs 700 crore. The government will provide Rs 300 crore towards the Corporation’s share capital in phases.

As per the Cabinet decision, the Corporation will use the funds from the share capital for various schemes including the Maulana Azad educational loan scheme, term loan, micro-finance and professional loan interest refund scheme.

The Minorities Department in its proposal made a strong case for increasing the government’s share capital in the Corporation in the wake of increasing demand for loans under various schemes.

The government increased the share capital to Rs 700 crore on February 2, 2022, from Rs 500 crore in 2013. The Corporation’s aim is to provide for the welfare and economic uplift of economically backward sections of the minorities in the state, irrespective of caste, creed and sex.

The Cabinet’s decision is crucial especially when the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the party’s manifesto released during the Lok Sabha elections had proposed to increase the Corporation’s share capital.

Pawar, though joined the MahaYuti, has repeatedly said that he has never left his secular credentials and recently announced to give 10 per cent seats from the NCP’s quota to the Muslim community.

The Cabinet’s decision is also to woo the minorities as the MahaYuti struggled to get their votes in the general elections fearing cancellation of their reservation and change in the constitution.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet decided to increase the honorarium paid to teachers having a diploma in education and a bachelor's degree in education from Madrasas across the state. These teachers are appointed on a contractual basis under Dr Zakir Hussain Madrasa Modernisation Scheme to impart education in mathematics, science, sociology, Hindi, Marathi, English and Urdu in addition to traditional and religious education.

Currently, the D Ed Teachers are paid Rs 6,000 which will be increased to Rs 16,000 and the honorarium of BA, B Ed, B SC-B Ed will be increased to Rs 18,000 from Rs 8,000.