Amruta Kavande: Girl Who Fought For 1 Per Cent Reservation For Orphans In Maharashtra

When the Maharashtra government took the historic decision to allocate one per cent quota for orphans in government jobs under the general category, last month it was the victory of one girl’s long pursuit for a better future for her and many like her.

Amruta Karvande, a 23-year-old a postgraduate student in Pune began her campaign to get education and job quota for orphans last year after she failed to make the cut-off in the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) in the open category. Amruta has scored 39 marks out of 100.

The cut-off was 46 in general category, while the cut-off for open women category was 35, but because she did not have a certificate that requires to state her parents’ caste, she was forced to seek posting from the open general category.

Amruta grew up in an orphanage in Goa since the age of two and has no memory of her parents other than her father’s name which he had given when he gave the girl at the orphanage.

Since she could not make it in the exams, Karvande ran from pillar to post, meeting various state officers asking them to consider her case. She approached chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in December and presented her case.

And to her surprise, in January the government took the decision to allocate quota for orphans.
“It will help rehabilitate orphan children and secure their future. Once they step out of the orphanage, they have to face a number of difficulties,” Maharashtra Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde said.

“Since their caste is not known, they cannot be included in a specific category, due to which they are deprived of educational, economic and social concessions,” she said.

“This is not just a victory for me. A lot of students will benefit from this decision. This will give us an opportunity to be assimilated into the mainstream,” Amruta said.

Source: Indiatimes