The President has appointed a five-member commission to revisit the quota norms for Other Backward Classes(OBC) and work out a way to sub-categorise the share of quota so that dominant communities don’t corner reservation benefits.
At present, there is a perception that the larger share of the OBC quota pie is enjoyed by Yadavs and communities like Mehtar, Bhat, Kashyap, Lohar feel they are left out because they don’t have the socio-economic muscle to grab it under the present reservation set up.
The extent of quota capture by more dominant castes is not fully recorded by the Indian government because quota allocation is not being done by sub-caste at present. The government feels that sub catergorisation would ensure more backward among the OBC communities will be able to avail of the benefits of reservation for educational institutions and government jobs.
The commission headed by Justice (retd) G. Rohini has been given 12 weeks to submit the report to the President. The commission has been asked to “examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the broad category of Other Backward Classes, to work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorisation, and identify the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of Other Backward Classes and classifying them into their respective sub-categories.
Twenty-seven years ago, the Other Backward Classes were given 27% reservation for the first time in 1990 by the VP Singh-led central government based on the report submitted by BP Mandal, sparking off violent protests in the country. It was viewed as a move to cleave the rapidly rising BJP's Hindu vote bank along caste lines. Now, the sub-categorisation order could benefit the BJP which has made considerable efforts to woo the OBCs. Prime Minister Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have been have gone the whole hog in changing the perception that the party is that of the urban upper-class Hindus.
However, sub-categorisation is not a new process. States such as Karnataka, West Bengal, Haryana have the practice of dividing up quota share according to the pulls and pressures of domestic politics.
“On receipt of the Report of the Commission, the Central Government will consider ways and means for equitable distribution of the benefits of the reservation in Central Government jobs and admission in Central Government Institutions amongst all strata of the Other Backward Classes,” a government press release said.
