History of OBC Reservation

Under Article 340 of the Indian constitution it is obligatory for the government to promote the welfare of the Other Backward Classes.

The first Backward Classes Commission headed by Shri kaka kalelkar in 1953, and Mandal Commission headed by Shri B.P.Mandal in 1980 has given many useful recommendations for the welfare of Other Backward Classes. The population of OBC’s which includes Hindus and Non-Hindus was around 52% of the total population according to the commission.

27% of reservation was recommended owing to legal constraints that the total quantum of reservation should not exceed 50%.

One of the most important recommendations is that all private sector undertakings which have received financial assistance from the government in one form or another should be obliged to recruit personnel on the reservation basis. But, even after 2 decades we are unable to get it inspite of our continuous efforts.

On August 7 1990, the then Prime Minister Shri. V P Singh announced that his National Front Government was going to implement Mandal Commission recommendations in Education and jobs, inspite of strong agitations from Forward Communities. In fact, Shri V P Singh lost his power due to his mandalisation policy. The federation remembers him on this special day for his service rendered to this community.

One needs to understand the psychology of opposition of reservation to OBC’s.

When the jobs are nowhere and everything is gone private, then why are the upper castes angry with the reservation for Backward Communities?

The fact is that seats for dalits were rarely fulfilled and we have seen huge backlog. There has been no protest. It was easier to curtail the protest of the dalits because of their numbers and social background.

Now the reservation for backward communities being a reality, the powerful backward communities will hit and break the bone of upper castes. That is the fear of this community. They know that there are enough students from these communities who will join great institutes of technology and management.

The Supreme Court of India on April 10 2008 upheld the government’s move for initiating 27% OBC quotas in Govt. funded Institutions. But it is necessary for the Govt. at this juncture to exclude the creamy layer policy from the reservation quota.

To be strong in the present scenario, it is more important to show our strength and unity of OBC’s. AIOBC association work towards social justice. AIOBC is giving hand and helping us in this regard.

The issue of under-representation of the socio-economically deprived, discriminated backward caste and classes in the spheres of education, employment, administration and commerce is burning at this stage. I appeal all the member associations to work hard towards the success of the reservation policies.

Let us truly reform our society and work for a truly democratic India, where every community participates in power and every person gets their reservation in respective areas in proportion to their shares in population.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Calcutta High Court asks govt to file affidavit on OBC reservation

Kolkata, Nov 26: A suit challenging the West Bengal government's decision to reserve ten per cent for the most backward classes was admitted at Calcutta High Court today. The court asked the authorities to explain its stand on the issue through an affidavit in four weeks.

The state government had announced to include 52 Muslim and four Hindu communities among the most backward classes in the last Assembly session.The suit was filed by Confederation of OBC, SC, ST and Minorities of West Bengal president Nilmadhab Karmakar.

Moving the petition before the bench of Chief Justice Joy Narayan Patel and Justice Asim Roy, counsel for the petitioner, Kartik Kapas told the court that the government's decision to create '' the most backward classes'' among the OBC as recommended by Mandal Commission in 1979 was irrational.

Kapas contended before the bench that the government had set up State Backward Class Commission in 1993 and included 63 castes in OBC between 1993 and 2010.

The state government reserved only seven per cent for the OBC in higher education and service against Mandal Commission's recommendation of 27 per cent.

''We wonder why the state created the most backward class and announced ten per cent reservation for the category,'' he argued before the court.

Counsel Pratik Dhar appeared for the government.

The matter will again come up for hearing after four weeks.

No comments:

Post a Comment