``In pursuance of this policy -- reserving a larger share of employment in the state services for backward classes -- His Highness is pleased to direct that from the date of this order 50 per cent of the vacancies that may occur shall be filled by recruits from among the backward classes,'' announced a notification by Chhatrapati Shahu on July 26, 1902. The backward classes meant all classes except the ``advanced classes like Brahmins, Prabhus, Shenwis and Parsees.''

``Chhatrapati Shahu's order was probably the first attempt by any ruler in the history of modern India to ensure a certain job quota for the have-nots,'' says director of the Shahu Research Centre Dr Vilas Sangave, who is currently editing aseries of volumes on the Shahu papers.

Shahu's reservation policy was the manifestation of his deep concern for the upliftment of the downtrodden, says Sangave. The bureaucracy was dominated by the upper class when Shahu took the reins of the principality of Kolhapur in 1894. The imbalance of power, tilted against the backward classes -- especially non-Brahmins -- prompted the young king to take steps to open the doors of education for the downtrodden and employ the educated among them in state services.

The reservation policy was a ``drastic measure'' Shahu resorted to as his education-for-all policy failed to produce the desired results. The policy took final shape while the king was in London in May 1902. The July 26 notification can be described as ``a highly idealistic manifesto having a far-reaching significance,'' Sangve adds.

The text of the order (published in volume IV of the Shahu Chhatrapati papers) reads: ``Endeavours have been made in recent years in the Kolhapur State to foster andencourage the education of all classes of the subjects but so far, His Highness regrets to have to record that those endeavours have not in the case of the more backward classes met with the success that was hoped for.''

The reservation policy was thought to be a suitable measure since Shahu's perception was that people would have to be encouraged to get an education by giving them the incentive of reserved jobs.

``In all offices in which the proportion of officers of the backward classes is at present less than 50 per cent, the next appointment shall be given to a member of those classes,'' the notification said.

Researchers feel that Shahu's revolutionary notification was a precursor to a new era in British India, while the independent sovereign nation of India adopted job quota as a policy in 1950.

The farsightedness of Shahu could be gauged from the fact that it took four long decades after Independence to accept reservations for other backward classes in the form of the Mandal Commission report,says Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Govind Pansare. He, however, finds it deplorable that a favourite exercise, especially among politicians, is worshipping Shahu.

``Few really try to emulate Shahu's preachings and practices. And they don't have to work under the limitations imposed on a ruler under the British crown,'' he adds.

Pansare regrets that the state government `missed' this vital document while the Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to observe July 26 as `Reservation Day' with a rally here.