With just about 14 months to go for the 2023 assembly polls, the Congress government in Chhattisgarh seems to have trained its focus on core communities in the state with the cabinet, on Tuesday, clearing setting up of separate departments for scheduled tribes (ST), scheduled castes (SC) and other backward class(OBC) communities.
Also, separate SC and OBC advisory councils – on the lines of the tribal advisory council – will be constituted in the state, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said on Twitter.
“We have taken a historic decision to constitute separate departments for welfare and development of SC, ST and OBC communities,” the CM said.
The decision to constitute SC advisory council has been taken “to ensure betterment of the SC section in Chhattisgarh and to bring about positive changes in their lives speedily,” Baghel tweeted.
In another tweet, he said, “To ensure protection of interests of the OBCs in Chhattisgarh, we have taken a big decision to constitute an advisory council. The constitution of this council will help in getting recommendations for conducting programmes for people of this section and their implementation.”
Currently, the state has a combined SC and ST welfare department and no department for OBC welfare.
Considered a tribal-dominated state with 30.62 per cent tribal population as per 2011 census, Chhattisgarh also has a huge chunk of OBC communities—46-48 per cent. SC communities constitute 12.82 per cent of the state population, according to the 2011 census.
All these communities, especially the OBC and ST, play a major electoral role in the state and political parties make efforts to keep them in good humour.
The BJP recently appointed OBC leaders as both state unit president and leader of opposition in the state assembly. The Congress has an OBC chief minister and a tribal state chief of the party.
A state government note said the chief minister will be the president of this OBC advisory council and the minister in-charge of the department will be the vice- president. The council will have 40 members, of which there will be at least 10 OBC MLAs, while the remaining members will be nominated by the state government.
The 20-member SC advisory council will also be headed by the chief minister while the minister in-charge of the department will be the vice-president. The council will have at least five SC MLAs and the remaining members will be nominated by the state government. Secretary of the department will act as the secretary of this council.
