OBCs and Subcategories, Why This Has Been a Hot-Button Issue for Long

Why in News?

• The publication of the results of the caste survey in Bihar earlier this month had raised the possibility that other states too would announce similar exercises.
• In a recent development, the Minister for Backward Classes Welfare in Andhra Pradesh said that the state will begin a backward classes census.
• The enumeration of castes, as well as the sub-categorisation of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to ensure equity in the distribution of reservation benefits have been issues of debate for long.

The Origin of the Term OBC and its Constitutional Affirmation

• Origin of the Term OBC
  • The expression OBC was coined to denote backward/ marginalised communities and castes that were not Scheduled Castes (SCs) or Scheduled Tribes (STs).
  • It is recognised that social backwardness in India has traditionally been a direct consequence of caste status, and that other types of backwardness have flowed from this initial handicap.
• Constitutional Affirmation of the Term OBC
  • Affirmative action for OBCs is mandated by Article 15(4) of the Constitution.
  • Nothing in this article or in Article 29 (2) [non-discrimination with regard to admission into state educational institutions] shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens.
  • Article 16(4) allows the state to make any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State.

Sub Categorisation of OBCs: Backwards Among OBCs

• OBCs have been generally identified based on their occupation:
  • Cultivation of own land,
  • Tenant farming,
  • Agriculture labour,
  • Cultivation and selling of vegetables,
  • Fruits and flowers,
  • Cattle-rearing,
  • Washing of clothes,
  • And carpentry, blacksmiths, oilseeds crushing, pottery, stone-cutting, etc.
• The many castes among the OBCs are at different levels of marginalisation.Two broad categories within the OBCs:
  • Those who own land (such as the Yadavs and Kurmis in Bihar and UP),
  • And those who do not.

 Extremely Backward Class: Understanding the Case of Bihar

• Bihar Government’s Exercise, 1951
  • The Bihar caste survey identified 27% of the population as “pichhda” (backward), and 36% as “atyantpichhda” (Extremely Backward Classes, or EBCs).
  • In 1951, the Bihar government had prepared a list of 109 castes, 79 of which were deemed to be more backward than the remaining 30.
  • But in 1964, Patna HC struck down the two lists as unconstitutional.
• Bihar Government’s Mungeri Lal Commission
  • In June 1970, the Bihar government appointed the Commission, which in its report named 128 backward communities, 94 of which were identified as most backward.
  • The Janata Party government of CM Karpoori Thakur implemented the recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission.
  • The Karpoori Thakur Formula provided 26% reservation, of which OBCs got a 12% share, the economically backward classes among the OBCs got 8%, women got 3%, and the poor from the upper castes got 3%.
• Subsequent Caste Politics in Bihar
  • To build a base for himself beyond his own small Kurmi caste, CM Nitish Kumar has made efforts to reach out to the backward OBCs (mainly the artisan castes) to the exclusion of the upper OBCs, mainly Yadavs whose loyalties lie with his rival turned ally Lalu Prasad.
  • Like the ati-pichhda backwards (EBCs), a category of Mahadalits has been identified among the Scheduled Castes.
  • The OBC reservation in Bihar is currently divided among groups that are called Backward Classes or BC-I, BC-II, and OBC Women.
  • This could change as and when the findings of the caste survey are sought to be acted upon.

The OBC Commissions on National Level and Their Outcomes

• First OBC Commission
  • The panel, headed by Kaka Kalelkar, was constituted by Jawaharlal Nehru’s government in 1953, and submitted its report in 1955.
  • To identify socially and educationally backward classes, the commission adopted the following criteria:
  • Low social position in the traditional caste hierarchy of Hindu society;
  • Lack of general educational advancement among the major section of the caste/ community;
  • Inadequate or no representation in government service;
  • And inadequate representation in trade, commerce and industry.
  • The First OBC Commission prepared a list of 2,399 backward castes or communities in the country, categorised 837 of them as most backward.
  • The Commission also recommended enumerating castes in the 1961 census, providing 25-40% reservation at different levels of government jobs, and 70% reservation for admission to technical and professional institutions.
  • The report was never discussed in Parliament and never implemented as the government decided that any all-India list drawn up by the Central Government would have no practical utility.
• Second OBC Commission (Mandal Commission)
  • This commission was appointed in 1979 by Morarji Desai’s Janata government but the implementation of which was announced only in 1990 by the government of V P Singh.
  • The Mandal Commission identified 3,743 castes and communities as OBCs, estimated their population at 52%, and recommended 27% reservation in government jobs and admissions to all government-run scientific, technical, and professional institutions.
  • No subcategories were recognised within the 27% OBC quota. One of the members, L R Naik, said in his dissent that OBCs should be split into intermediate backward classes and depressed backward classes.
  • The Centre’s Official Memorandum on the implementation of the Mandal recommendations said that within the 27% reserved for SEBCs, preference shall be given to candidates belonging to the poorer sections of the SEBCs.
  • However, the central government has always implemented the quota treating the entire OBC population as one block after excluding the “creamy layer” of affluent candidates based on criteria fixed after a Supreme Court ruling.

The Status of OBC Subcategories in Different States

• Over the decades, state governments have applied their own criteria to distribute quota benefits among the various categories of OBCs.
• This process began well before the Mandal recommendations were implemented at the Centre.
• In Andhra Pradesh, OBCs are divided into five subcategories: Aboriginal tribes, Professional group (like tappers), SC converts to Christianity and their progeny, etc.
• In Karnataka, 207 OBCs castes are divided into five sub-groups.
• Jharkhand has two groups: Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and Backward Classes.
• West Bengal’s 143 OBC castes are divided into More Backwards and Backwards.
• In Maharashtra, the 21% OBC reservation is shared by the Special Backward Category (2%) and Other Backward Classes (19%).
• In Tamil Nadu, the 50% OBC quota is divided among Backward Classes (26.5%), Backward Class Muslims (3.5%), and Most Backward Classes/Denotified Community (20%).

Conclusion

• The Bihar Caste survey report has triggered a national debate over caste composition and its share and no political party can afford to ignore it now.
• According to experts, the survey report would force political parties to announce and initiate more welfare schemes for the poor and marginalised sections of society.
• The demand for reservation for the backwards among OBCs has gained traction as the feeling has grown that a handful of upper OBCs have grabbed most of the benefits of the 27% reservation.

Q1) What is the Mandal Commission?

The Mandal Commission or the second Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission, was established in India in 1979 with a mandate to "identify the socially or educationally backward classes" of India. It was headed by B. P. Mandal and the commission submitted its report in 1980 and was implemented in 1990.

Q2) Who introduced the caste based reservation system?

William Hunter and Jyotirao Phule in 1882 originally conceived the idea of caste-based reservation system. The reservation system that exists today, in its true sense, was introduced in 1933 when British Prime-Minister Ramsay Macdonald presented the 'Communal Award'.

Source: The Indian Express