Commission for sub-categorisation of OBCs likely to get six-month extension

J K Bajaj, Director, Centre for Policy Studies, New Delhi; Director, Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata (ex-officio) and Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India (ex-officio) are other members of Commission. In May last year, Bajaj was appointed Chairman of Indian Council of Social Sciences Research but he is still a member of the Commission. Expenses of the Commission are borne by the National Commission for OBCs and its office is at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe in Delhi.

The Indian Express had earlier reported that in its letter on July 30, 2019, the Commission wrote to the government that a draft report on sub-categorisation was ready. But, following the new term of reference, the Commission began studying the list of communities in the Central List. Sources said that Justice Rohini had written to the government that the work of the Commission is yet to be completed.

On the sub-categorisation front, one of the challenges Commission faced has been the absence of population data of various communities for a comparison with their representation in jobs and admissions.

The Commission had on December 12, 2018, written to then Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot, requesting an appropriate budgetary provision for an all-India survey of the caste-wise population of OBCs. But on March 7, 2019, (three days before the Lok Sabha poll schedule was announced), Justice Rohini wrote to Gehlot: “We have now decided not to undertake such a survey at this stage”.

There are 2,633 castes and sub-castes in the OBCs’ Central List. In 2018, the Commission analysed the data of 1.3 lakh Central jobs given under the 27 per cent 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 of the study, which The Indian Express had reported earlier, 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. However, absence of data on population of different communities is a big challenge before the Commission to reach any conclusion.