Experts transliterate documents in 'Modi' script to find Kunbi records for Maratha quota

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Experts in the "Modi" script of Marathi are transliterating Nizam-era documents from various offices and departments to find records of Kunbis in Marathwada to provide reservation for the Maratha community.

Talking to PTI, experts said papers from the land records department, documents from tehsil and other offices, and school records before 1967 are being examined to find records of Kunbi.

The Maharashtra government has issued a draft notification following negotiations with activist Manoj Jarange, stating that blood relatives of a Maratha person, who has records to show that he belongs to the agrarian Kunbi community, would also be recognised as Kunbi.

The Kunbi community falls in the OBC category, and Jarange has been demanding Kunbi certificates for all Marathas.

"We are examining documents. If we find the mention of Kunbi in these papers, we transliterate the information to Devnagri and hand it over to the district authorities who upload the record on their official website," said Kamaji Dak Patil, who teaches a certificate course on the "Modi" script at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University.

Earlier, it was assumed that these Nizam-era documents were in Hyderabad, but several records in the "Modi" script were also found in government offices in Marathwada, he said.

"We are examining land records and documents from various offices from 1881 to 1900. We are also combing through school records till 1967," Patil said.

"Modi" is a script used to write the Marathi language currently written in Devnagri.

"In some papers, the information written in the ‘Modi’ script is also translated to Urdu or Kannda. Such papers were found in the areas bordering Karnataka and Telangana. ‘Modi’ was earlier limited to history scholars and archives department. But now, common people are approaching us with papers they have and are trying to understand the script," he said.

"Modi" script expert Shailendra Wagh said, "The ink on these old documents is in good condition. We can easily read and identify words. Some of the land records are slightly delicate, but documents found at the tehsil office are in good condition as they have not been handled much. They can be preserved for the next 100 years."