Kochi: The Syro-Malabar Church Synod welcomed the decision taken by the Kerala State Cabinet on the implementation of 10 per cent reservation in government services and higher education for economically backward classes (EWS) of non-reserved sections. The Synod assessed the current situation in which the non-reserved Christian denominations are being driven out of government services.
However, the Synod concluded that it was unfair for the state government to reorganize the land-fixing set by the central government as the criteria for reservation. Farmers constitute a large percentage of the non-reserved population in Kerala. As the prices of agricultural products continue to fall, the Kasturirangan report states that due to legal issues relating to land and land and even the inaccessibility of agricultural land, the peasantry of Kerala is in dire straits and debts.
In reality, it is quite unfair to reduce the central criterion for land use from five acres to 2.5 acres. Since no state that has already implemented the economic reservation has reduced the extent of farmland from the central norms, only the state should reconsider the land cuts.
Sasidharan Nair, who studied the criteria of economic reservation and economic backwardness in Kerala, had earlier submitted clear statements about the economic downturn in agriculture and income depreciation before the Commission. It is regrettable that the Commission submitted its recommendations without considering any of these. The Synod demanded that the decision to implement a 10 percent EWS reservation in the State be retrospective, with the retrospective effect to apply to the posts in which the PSC has now applied.
The Synod also asked the state government to apply for all applications currently issued by the PSC, including the KAS, on the PSC website, along with financial provisions. The Synod, chaired by the Major Archbishop, is attended by 57 bishops. The Synod will last four days, discussing various issues related to the church and the community.
