Karnataka SC/ST Tender: In Karnataka, the reservation quota for Scheduled Castes (SC) has been increased from 15 to 17 percent. Alongside, the quota for Scheduled Tribes (ST) has been raised from 3 to 7 percent. Following the increase in reservation quota, the state BJP government is determined to implement these enhanced SC/ST reservations in their policies. The tender limit for SC/ST contractors has been raised from 50 lakh rupees to 1 crore rupees. After intense debates and struggles in the state assembly, this long-pending demand has now been fulfilled. The state’s SC/ST contractors association had long been demanding an increase from the 50 lakh rupee ceiling to 1 crore rupees.
The association’s president, N Mahadevaswamy, praised the state BJP government for their decision. He said, “This will support the SC/ST community contractors in fulfilling their ongoing projects, and they will benefit significantly from the increased limit in the upcoming projects.”
The Need for Reservation Revision
Leader of the opposition, Siddaramaiah questioned the government and asked for an articulate plan regarding the implementation of the revised reservation in tenders. He pointed out that earlier, out of 50 lakh, only 24.10 percent was dedicated to the SC/ST community contractors. With the BJP-led Karnataka government having committed to resolving this underrepresentation, it’s the state’s first step in addressing the tender limits for SC/ST contractors, a decades-old demand.
Scope of the Tender Limit Increase
The previous year, the Karnataka assembly approved the proposal to increase the reservation for SCs and STs, effectively taking it from 15 to 17 percent for SCs and from 3 to 7 percent for STs. The state cabinet also strongly supported this increase. As soon as the cabinet gave its nod, the state government introduced the revised reservation limit of 17 percent for SCs and 7 percent for STs in tender processes, thereby officially raising the quota in tenders.
