Bill to provide quota to Gujjars passed

The Rajasthan Assembly on Wednesday passed by voice vote the bill providing 5 per cent quota to Gujjars under the "special backward class" and 14 per cent to poor among the "economically backwards" (EBC). Despite the opposition Congress party supported the bill, some of the party's MLAs including C P Joshi, Jagannath Paharia, Harimohan Sharma termed it as a bill in haste and under the pressure of Gujjar community's agitation which claimed about seventy lives in 2007-2008.