SUB-CATEGORIZATION OF OBCS - POLITY
News: OBC
sub-categorization panel gets 14th extension
What's in the news?
● The
Justice G. Rohini-led commission for the sub-categorization of other backward classes
(OBCs) has now been given yet another extension in its tenure by the President.
Justice G. Rohini Commission:
● The
commission, formed in October 2017,
was initially given 12 weeks to finish the task of sub-categorizing the nearly 3,000 castes within the OBC umbrella
and recommend division of the 27% OBC quota among them equitably.
● Initially,
the government cited more time required by the panel to gather information and
data and then it cited the pandemic.
● This
is the 14th extension in tenure that
the commission has been given.
What is sub-categorization of OBCs?
● The
idea is to create sub-categories within the larger group of OBCs for the
purpose of reservation.
● OBCs are granted 27%
reservation in jobs and education under the central government.
● This
has been a legal debate for other reservation categories too, in September last
year, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court reopened the debate on sub-categorization
of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for reservations.
● For
OBCs, the debate arises out of the perception that only a few affluent
communities among the over 2,600 included in the Central List of OBCs have
secured a major part of the 27% reservation.
● The
argument for creating sub-categories within OBCs is that it would ensure “equitable distribution” of
representation among all OBC communities.
● It
was to examine this that the Rohini
Commission was constituted on October 2, 2017.
What is the Commission’s brief?
It
was originally set up with four terms of
reference:
What progress has it made so far?
● In
its letter on July 30, 2019, the Commission wrote that it is ready with the
draft report on sub-categorization.
● Following
the new term of reference added in January 29, the Commission began studying
the list of communities in the central list.
● Even
as the notification issued on January 25 said the commission “shall present its
report by 31st July, 2023”, the panel member said they might be finished with
it before the fresh deadline.
Challenges faced:
● The
absence of data for the population of
various communities to compare with their representation in jobs and
admissions.
What have its findings been so far?
● In
2018, the Commission analyzed the data of 1.3 lakh central jobs given under OBC
quota over the preceding five years and OBC admissions to central higher education
institutions, including universities, IITs, NITs, IIMs and AIIMS, over the
preceding three years.
● The findings were,
○ 97%
of all jobs and educational seats have gone to just 25% of all sub-castes
classified as OBCs.
○ 24.95%
of these jobs and seats have gone to just 10 OBC communities.
○ 983
OBC communities - 37% of the total - have zero representation in jobs and
educational institutions; 994 OBC sub-castes have a total representation of
only 2.68% in recruitment and admissions.
● Divided OBCs into four
broad categories:
○ As
part of its work, the commission had identified dominant caste groups among all
OBC communities in the Central list, finding that a small group of dominant OBC
communities were crowding out a large number of communities from the 27% OBC
quota.
○ Consequently,
the commission decided to divide all OBC communities into four broad
categories, with the largest share of the quota pie going to the group that has
historically been deprived of OBC quota as a result of being pushed out by dominant
OBC groups.
Go back to the basics:
102nd Constitutional Amendment Act:
● It
inserted two new articles - Article 338
B and 342 A. It also made certain changes in Article 366.
● Article 338 B
- empowers NCBC to examine complaints and welfare measures regarding socially
and educationally backward classes.
● Article 342 A
- empowers the President to specify/assign socially and educationally backward
classes in different states and union territories. He can do this with the
advice of the Governor of the respective state. But a parliamentary law is
required for amending (inclusion/removal) the list of backward classes.
Powers and Functions of the new NCBC:
● The
NCBC has the authority to examine, monitor, and evaluate the implementation of
constitutional provisions for the socially and educationally disadvantaged.
● It
engages in and advises on the backward classes socio-economic growth, as well
as evaluating their progress.
● It
reports to the President on the
effectiveness of safeguards for OBCs. The President will provide such reports
to the Parliament. If the findings are relevant to the state, a copy of the
report must be sent to the state government in question.
● It
has to perform such other functions (related to protection, welfare and
development and advancement of OBCs) as the President may by rule specify which
is subject to the provision of any parliamentary law.
● NCBC has the powers of a
civil court.
Composition of NCBC:
● NCBC
is composed of 1 chairperson and 5
members with a term of 3 years.
● Members
are appointed and removed by the
President.
● President
also determines their conditions of service and office tenure.
● Chairperson
eligibility - Judge of SC/HC
● Among
the members, there should be:
○ at
least 2 National Commission for OBC in matters of backward classes
○ at
least 1 woman
○ a
social scientist
○ a
member secretary (rank of secretary to Government of India).