MUMBAI, Sept. 4 -- Forty-seven-year-old Brahmanand Sirsat from Umara village in Nanded was overjoyed to share that his son Ruturaj Sirsat had got admission into the MBBS course at Mumbai's Nair Hospital under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota. This only happened because Sirsat managed to obtain a Kunbi certificate last year after the government gave in to Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil's frequent agitations. Brahmanand, a farmer by profession, said he wouldn't have dreamed of sending his son to the MBBS course without the certificate. "The general category fees are Rs.1.61 lakh per year," he said. "After getting a Kunbi certificate, I paid just Rs.7,900 for the first year. We also got a concession in hostel fees from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.4,000 per year." An elated Brahmanand said that all this was possible only because of Jarange-Patil. Jarange-Patil, was on a hunger strike at Mumbai's Azad Maidan till Tuesday, demanding Kunbi certificates for all Marathas. His claim, contested by many, is that Kunbis and Marathas are the same and hence the latter should get all the benefits due to Kunbis. Despite being a sub-caste of the Maratha community, Kunbis get reservation benefits under the state's OBC quota in jobs and education. Following Jarange-Patil's agitations, the Maharashtra government last year began issuing Kunbi certificates to Marathas based on various documents, including land records that proved their Kunbi antecedents. The certificate is doing wonders for thrilled Maratha families who were initially unaware how much they would benefit from it. Bandu Mule, 46, a farmer from Dhokbabulgaon in Solapur district, has also reaped the benefits. In 2020, his daughter, Vidya Mule, joined a computer engineering course in a private institute. "As OBCs, we are paying only Rs.15,000 per year instead of the Rs.55,000 general category fee. Vidya also managed to get a scholarship, and her entire course fee is being completely reimbursed."...