Decode Politics: A commission on OBC sub-quota, now ‘delayed’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan

What was the Rohini Commission?

The Narendra Modi government constituted the Commission, headed by retired Delhi High Court Chief Justice G Rohini, on October 2, 2017, to look at creating sub-categories within the larger group of OBCs for the purpose of reservation.

OBCs, which are variously estimated to be between 40%-50% of the population, are currently granted 27% reservation in jobs and education under the Central government based on the recommendations of the Second OBC Commission headed by BP Mandal. There are more than 2,600 subcastes in the Central List of OBCs, and the contention is that a few affluent groups within them manage to corner a lion’s share of the quota. The support for sub-categories within OBCs was based on the argument that it would ensure “equitable distribution” of representation among all OBC communities.

The report of the commission was widely expected to have political ramifications ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

What was the commission meant to do?

It was originally set up with three terms of reference:

1. To examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among castes or communities included in the broad category of OBCs, in reference to the Central List.

2. To work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters for a scientific approach towards sub-categorisation within OBCs.

3. To identify castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of OBCs and classify them into their respective sub-categories.

4. After the commission wrote in a letter on July 30, 2019, that it was ready with the draft report on sub-categorisation, a new term of reference was added in January 2020. It was to study the various entries in the Central List of OBCs and recommend correction of any repetitions, ambiguities, inconsistencies and errors of spelling or transcription.

What was the timeline given to the commission?

When it was first set up, the commission was given 12 weeks to submit its report. However, it got as many as 13 extensions subsequently.

As per a response to an RTI filed by The Indian Express, till August 31, 2021, the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) had incurred an expenditure of Rs 54.01 lakh on the commission, including on salaries of its members, consultant and outsourcing staff, and on miscellaneous and hospitality items. In response to an earlier RTI query, the NCBC had said that until December 2020, over Rs 1.92 crore had been spent on the Commission including salary, consultant fees and other expenses.

It was expected that once the report’s findings became public, it would have an impact on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Leading up to the elections, the Opposition and particularly the Congress had raised their pitch on the demand for a caste census, with the stated objective of “jitni aabadi, utna haq (rights as per numbers).

The BJP narrative, on the other hand, has been to consolidate castes under a larger Hindutva umbrella, with the party already the leading front among OBCs.

What is known about what the commission found?

In 2018, the commission revealed its analysis of the data regarding 1.3 lakh Central jobs under the OBC quota over the preceding five years and OBC admissions to Central higher education institutions, including IITs, NITs, IIMs and AIIMS, over the preceding three years.

The findings were: 97% of all jobs and educational seats went to just 25% of all sub-castes classified as OBCs; 24.95% of these jobs and seats went to just 10 OBC communities; 983 OBC communities – or 37% of the total – had zero representation in jobs and educational institutions; and that 994 OBC sub-castes found a total representation of only 2.68% in recruitment and admissions.

At the same time, the commission noted the absence of data on the population of various communities to compare with their representation in jobs and admissions, and in December that year, wrote to the government asking for a budgetary provision for an all-India survey to estimate the population of various OBCs.

But on March 7, 2019, three days before the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections was announced, Justice Rohini wrote to the government, saying “We have now decided not to undertake such survey at this stage.”

While the popular perception is that one or two OBC communities have cornered most of the reservation benefits, sources in the government said that the Rohini Commission has identified at least 10 OBC communities — some of them are among the core support bases of the BJP in a few states — who are on par with each other in terms of their representation in services and admissions.

*What is the view of the states on OBC sub-categorisation?

Various states have different OBC categorisations. In Andhra Pradesh, OBCs are divided into five subcategories. 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%). In Kerala, 40% OBC reservation is divided into eight subgroups, including Ezhava/Thiyya/Billava (14%), and Muslims (12%).

The Bihar caste survey in October 2023 identified 27% of the population as “pichhda” (backward), and 36% as “atyant pichhda” (Extremely Backward Classes, or EBCs).