Other Backward Class


The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify communities that are "educationally or socially backward". It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with general castes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The OBCs were found to comprise 52% of the country's population by the Mandal Commission report of 1980 and were determined to be 41% in 2006 when the National Sample Survey Organisation took place. There is substantial debate over the exact number of OBCs in India; it is generally estimated to be sizable, but many believe that it is higher than the figures quoted by either the Mandal Commission or the National Sample Survey.
In the Indian Constitution, OBCs are described as socially and educationally backward classes, and the Government of India is enjoined to ensure their social and educational development — for example, the OBCs are entitled to 27% reservations in public sector employment and higher education. The list of OBCs maintained by the Indian Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is dynamic, with castes and communities being added or removed depending on social, educational, and economic factors. In a reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Union Minister Jitendra Singh informed that as of January 2016, the percentage of OBCs in central government services is 21.57% and has shown an increasing trend since September 1993. Likewise, in 2015, at educational institutions, funds meant for OBC students under the reservation policy were not used properly or were underused in cases of upgrading infrastructure as well as in violation of faculty recruitment of OBCs according to the 49% reservation policy.
Until 1985, the affairs of the Backward Classes were looked after by the Backward Classes Cell in the Ministry of Home Affairs. A separate Ministry of Welfare was established in 1985 to attend to matters relating to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs. The Backward Classes Division of the Ministry looks after the policy, planning, and implementation of programmes relating to social and economic empowerment of OBCs, and matters relating to two institutions set up for the welfare of OBCs, the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation and the National Commission for Backward Classes.

Government obligation

Under Article 340 of the Indian Constitution, the government must promote the welfare of the OBCs.
A 1992 decision of the Supreme Court of India resulted in a requirement that 27% of civil service positions be reserved for members of OBCs. In a reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Union Minister Jitendra Singh informed that as of January 2016, the percentage of OBCs in central government jobs is 21.57%.

Socio-economic status

There existed a huge disparity among various castes and communities classified as Other Backward Class, even before the implementation of the reservation policy in government jobs and educational institutions, as per the recommendation of the Mandal Commission report. While a major section of Other Backward Castes was extremely backward, there existed a section that owned considerable land and employed Scheduled Castes as agricultural labourers. In the agitation for implementation of the report of Mandal Commission, Scheduled Castes supported the Other Backward Castes, but after the implementation of these recommendations on the direction of Supreme Court of India, the tension between a section of OBCs and SCs increased.
In some states of North India, the Yadavs, Kurmis, and the Koeris, which were called "upper-OBC", were well off, due to ownership of a sizeable amount of land. The abolition of Zamindari system in post-independence India raised many of the members of these communities to the status of landlords. Following the Green Revolution in India, their landholdings and economic prosperity increased further; they acquired education and became an active participant in government jobs. Further, after the Mandal agitation subsided in North India, OBC leaders gained political power to outnumber the upper caste legislators in most of the north Indian states. This led to the formation of the OBC-led government in many states of North India. They also ended up claiming the high ritual status, which is defined as Sanskritisation.
However, the OBC consolidation in some of the states of north India like Bihar, left many other OBC communities away from the development process. The political and economic prosperity was cornered by the dominant Backward Castes like Koeri, Kurmi and Yadav; this was witnessed in the formation of political blocs in the state after 1995, in which, either side was dominated by these three castes.
Within this section of OBCs called upper-OBC, there also exists disparity in educational attainment and political mobilisation. While the Yadavs were the biggest beneficiary in political achievements, their political progress didn't improve their position in the caste hierarchy and the spread of education among them also remained less as compared to more educationally advanced communities like Awadhia Kurmi, Koeri and Bania. Since the Yadavs were associated with cattle herding in contrast to other upper-OBCs, who were owner cultivators, trespassing into field of landlords and regular struggle with the latter was a challenge for their survival. The mobilisation of Other Backward Class for social-economic ascendancy was not observed at the same pace and in the same manner in different north Indian states. In north India, states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh also have substantial populations of Backward Castes, yet, no movement as seen in states like Bihar took place in these states. Many observers have mentioned that in Bihar, the upper OBCs viz. Koeri, Kurmi, and Yadav's political ascendancy went hand in hand with land reforms and peasant movements, benefitting these three castes. These movements changed not only their political position but also their socio-economic profile. However, in the case of Madhya Pradesh, the national political parties like Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress accommodated the Backward Class in the political structure of the state in a way that socio-political movement of any kind was prevented from taking place.

Demographics

Kalelkar Commission

Adjacent is the distribution of population of each religion by caste categories, obtained from merged sample of Schedule 1 and Schedule 10 of available data from the National Sample Survey Organisation 55th and National Sample Survey Organisation 61st Rounds Round Survey.
The First Backward Classes Commission was established by a presidential order on 29 January 1953 under the chairmanship of Kaka Kalelkar and submitted its report on 30 March 1955. It had prepared a list of 2,399 backward castes or communities for the entire country, of which 837 had been classified as the "most backward". Some of the most notable recommendations of the Kalelkar Commission were:
  1. Undertaking caste-wise enumeration of the population in the census of 1961;
  2. Relating the social backwardness of a class to its low position in the traditional caste hierarchy of Indian society;
  3. Treating all women as a class as "backward";
  4. Reservation of 70 percent of seats in all technical and professional institutions for qualified students of backward classes.
  5. Reservation of vacancies in all government services and local bodies for other backward classes.
The commission in its final report recommended "caste as the criteria" to determine backwardness. However, the report was not accepted by the government, which feared that the backward classes excluded from the caste and communities selected by the commission might not be considered, and those in most need would be swamped by the multitudes, thus receiving insufficient attention.

Mandal Commission

The decision to set up a second backward classes commission was made official by the president on 1 January 1979. The commission is popularly known as the Mandal Commission, its chairman being B. P. Mandal, submitted a report in December 1980 that stated that the population of OBCs, which includes both Hindus and non-Hindus, was around 52 percent of the total population. The commission prepared a list of 3,743 backward castes or communities for the entire country, of which 1,937 had been classified as the "depressed backward class". It developed 11 indicators or criteria to identify OBCs, of which four were economic.
Twenty-seven percent of reservations were recommended owing to the legal constraint that the total quantum of reservations should not exceed 50 percent. States that have already introduced reservations for OBC exceeding 27 percent will not be affected by this recommendation. With this general recommendation, the commission proposed the following overall scheme of reservation for OBC:
  1. Candidates belonging to OBC recruited based on merit in an open competition should not be adjusted against their reservation quota of 27 percent.
  2. The above reservation should also be made applicable to the promotion quota at all levels.
  3. Reserved quota remaining unfilled should be carried forward for three years and de-reserved thereafter.
  4. Relaxation in the upper age limit for direct recruitment should be extended to the candidates of OBC in the same manner as done in the case of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
  5. A roster system for each category of posts should be adopted by the concerned authorities in the same manner as presently done in respect to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe candidates.
These recommendations in total apply to all recruitment to public sector undertakings, both under the central and state governments as well as to nationalised banks. All private sector undertakings that have received financial assistance from the government in one form or another should also be obliged to recruit personnel on the aforesaid basis. All universities and affiliated colleges should also be covered by the above scheme of reservation. Although education is considered an important factor in bringing a desired social change, "educational reform" was not within the terms of reference of this commission. To promote literacy the following measures were suggested:
  1. An intensive time-bound programme for adult education should be launched in selected pockets with a high concentration of the OBC population.
  2. Residential schools should be set up in these areas for backward-class students to provide a climate especially conducive to serious studies. All facilities in these schools including board and lodging should be provided free of cost to attract students from poor and backward class homes.
  3. Separate hostels for OBC students with the above facilities will have to be provided.
  4. Vocational training was considered imperative.
  5. It was recommended that seats should be reserved for OBC students in all scientific, technical and professional institutions run by the central as well as state governments. The quantum of reservation should be the same as in the government services, i.e. 27 percent.