Members of Other Backward Classes who felt they did not get the reservation benefits due to them, have news to cheer about. The 'creamy layer' ceiling for Other Backward Classes (OBC) category has been raised to Rs 8 lakh per annum from the existing Rs 6 lakh for central government job.
The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved the idea of sub-categorisation within the OBCs, for purposes of reservation in the Central government. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while briefing the media, said the cabinet had cleared the decks for setting up of a commission that will, among other things, examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the OBCs.
“There will be more equitable distribution within the OBCs,” the senior cabinet member said. Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thewar Chand Gehlot said it was one more step towards the government's “commitment to social justice and antyodaya”
Jaitley said the government would urge the President of India to permit the sub-categorisation for purposes of employment in the Central government. The National Commission on Backward Classes had recommended this way back, as had the Parliamentary Standing Commission on Social Justice, in 2012-2013, he elaborated
The commission is mandated to submit its report within 12 weeks of appointment of its chairperson. It will also work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters for sub-categorisation, and identify castes, communities and sub-castes and synonyms in the Central list of OBCs and classify them into their respective sub-categories.
The National Commission of Backward Classes had mooted the idea of sub-categorisation by dividing the OBCs into backward classes, more backward classes and extremely backward classes. It had suggested in a report of February 2015, that the OBC quota of 27 per cent be proportionately divided among them by the states and the Centre, in terms of population and backwardness.
In Haryana, for instance, the Jat community wanted to be part of the OBC on grounds that they were educationally and socially backward, even though political and economically powerful. The "creamy layer" among OBCs was seen as cornering away the benefits of reservation. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the Janata Dal (U) leader heading a mahagathbandhan had appealed to the “EBCs”, the extremely backward classes, projecting candidates from among them.
When asked if this was in response to the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's two-year-old suggestion favouring a review of the reservation policy, Jaitley said, “There is no such proposal before the government, nor will there be.”
Gehlot said that the proposed commission on sub-categorisation would depend on government data on OBCs, as well as the Socio-Economic Caste Census data. The caste-wise data of the Census has not been made public yet.
The Union cabinet decision comes after 11 states, including the two from the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh, have carried out their sub-categorisation of OBCs.
Jaitley said, however, the benefit of reservation will go to those earning up to Rs 8 lakh, which forms the cut off for the "creamy layer". Till now, it was Rs 6 lakhs.
There have been quota stirs in many parts of the country, notably Haryana and Rajasthan, demanding reservation for subcategories. Earlier this year, lakhs of Jat protesters from 13 states had converged in the national capital, demanding reservation in education and jobs.
