Why Gujarat is seeing violence over the Patidar agitation

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Historically, Patidar means a landowner ( Pati in Gujarati means land; dar means entitled). Mainly farmers, several Patidars went on to invest their surplus from agrarian activities into new business enterprises with each passing generation.

However, today, the young generation is neither inclined towards agriculture nor family business, if any. Instead, young Patidars now aspire for jobs in the manufacturing and services sectors, where the quota system has hit them hard, say experts.

The other trigger for Patidar youth now demanding an other backward class (OBC) quota is the fact that a sub-Patidar community, Aanjana, has been under the OBC quota since about two decades.

According to estimation based on the last caste census in 1931, Patidars account for 15% of Gujarat's population. A look at how the community stands vis-a-vis others in the state: