Govt should talk to Jarange-Patil to resolve Maratha quota issue: Congress MP

New Delhi: A Congress MP from Maharashtra on Wednesday made a demand in Lok Sabha that the government should start negotiations with Manoj Jarange-Patil to find a solution to the Maratha-Dhangar reservation issue at the earliest.

Raising the issue of reservation for Maratha and Dhangar communities in Lok Sabha, Congress' Praniti Shinde also made a strong demand for conducting a caste census to ensure reservation to women.

Shinde, the Lok Sabha member from Solapur, said Jarange-Patil is sitting on a fast and the Dhangar community also wants to be included in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.

"The government is adding to the existing tensions in Maharashtra. The BJP is in the government in Maharashtra and at the Centre."

"Why can't there be a negotiation to find a solution to it? Why is there a delay? It is my demand that the government enter into talks on the Maratha-Dhangar reservation issue and find a solution to the problem," Shinde said.

Shinde also demanded that a caste census be conducted at the earliest so that women and Maratha and Dhangar communities get reservation due to them.

BJP MP from Palghar, Hemant Savara, demanded setting up of a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Thane district of Maharashtra.

Savara said he was educated in a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in Palghar, which was a part of Thane district.

He said Thane district ceased to have a JNV after Palghar district was carved out of it in 2014.

Congress member from Idukki, Dean Kuriakose, wanted the government to reintroduce the vermin list under the Wildlife Protection Act to allow culling of "cruel animals" entering farm land and destroying the crop.

Kuriakose said there have been growing instances of human-animal conflict in Kerala and several people have lost their lives due to it.

"We should have the right to kill the cruel animals that are entering the farmers' land. There is no other remedy. People are not getting any protection," he said.

Congress Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi raised the issue of over 12 lakh elementary teachers who lost their jobs after the Supreme Court scrapped the 18-month diploma course in elementary education.

He said the Centre should issue a gazette notification recognising the 18-month diploma course. Gogoi said such a move would do justice to the diploma holders who lost their jobs after the Supreme Court ruling.

SP member Mohibullah demanded that the Centre set up an AIIMS-like hospital in his Rampur Lok Sabha constituency in western Uttar Pradesh.

BJP member Anil Firojiya wanted the government to make Right to Education mandatory till graduation.

Ladakh MP Mohammad Haneefa wanted the government to turn Ladakh into a Union Territory with legislature and also bring it under the sixth schedule of the Constitution to safeguard the interests of the local population.