India, Oct. 1 -- The Maratha quota stir has found a defining face since Manoj Jarange-Patil launched his agitation from Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna on August 29, 2023, and has maintained a sustained pressure on the state government to issue Kunbi certificates to the eligible in the community to enable them to secure reservation at educational institutions and jobs in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category. The state government claims to have issued 1.4 million Kunbi certificates from the 5.8 million Kunbi-related documents collated over the last three years.

While 3,50,000 Kunbi certificates have been validated by a special committee, set up to scrutinise the names of the applicants, an equal number of certificates under the Soci...