New Delhi — The state government of Rajasthan, in northwestern India, has agreed to reserve 5 percent of university seats and jobs in its public institutions for a caste group called the Gujjars, bringing to an end a monthlong, often violent protest by the group that led to the deaths of more than 40 people, the Indian Express reported today.

The Gujjars are a seminomadic ethnic group of cattle herders and farmers in Rajasthan and other northern Indian states who compose 8 percent of its population. They said they could not compete with other groups classified as “backward classes” in Rajasthan that have become more prosperous thanks to land reforms.

The caste group agreed to the new quotas — allotted under a special category — even though they were not granted their demand for a change in their constitutional status. The Indian government already reserves 27 percent of seats in all public higher-education institutions for “other backward classes” and 22.5 percent of university seats for “scheduled castes and tribes,” Indians once known as “Untouchables” who suffered the most under the caste system.

It is not clear yet whether the new quotas will be in addition to the existing ones.

“This quota would not have any adverse effect on the present reservation system in the state,” said Vasundhara Raje, Rajasthan’s chief minister, according to the newspaper. “There is a necessity to give special support to some sections,” she added. —Shailaja Neelakantan