The government has decided to carve out a sub-quota of 4.5 per cent for minorities within the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs, a move which comes ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, took the decision that would pave way for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for minorities as defined in section 2 (C) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) are notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the Act. The decision is based on the recommendation of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities.