Odisha for tweak in OBC law to include castes in State list

Odisha for tweak in OBC law to include castes in State list

Subject :Polity

Section :Msc

Concept :

• The Naveen Patnaik government has introduced Odisha State Commission For Backward Classes (Amendment) Bill, 2023 for inclusion of 22 castes in the State list of Other Backward Classes.
• The amendment would enable the State government to include caste name in the socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC) list.

About OBCs reservation

• Articles 15(4) and 16(4) make special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes of citizens (SEBCs, popularly known as OBCs), the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
• Currently, for each state, there are two OBC lists, i.e., one for the state and the Centre.
• So, a caste included in the OBC list of a state enjoys the reservation benefits in state government jobs and educational institutions, but not with respect to central government jobs or educational institutions.

Historical development of the OBCs reservation

• In 1955, the 1st Backward Classes Commission recommended the inclusion of 2,399 castes as OBCs. But, the then central government did not implement the recommendations and implementation of the welfare programs. Therefore, OBC castes have an abysmal representation in central government jobs. But the Centre suggested that state governments may draw up their own lists.
• The second Backward Classes Commission, known as the Mandal Commission, gave its report in 1980. However, the central governments did not implement the recommendation for almost a decade.
• Finally, the V P Singh government decided to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission. Various OBC castes were included in the Central OBC lists. These were those castes and minorities which were common to both the State Lists and the Mandal Commission List.
• The central government introduced a reservation of 27% for OBCs in government jobs on August 13, 1990. The constitutional validity of the reservation was upheld in the Indira Sawhney case. Pursuant to judgment, the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 was enacted.
• In Ram Singh and Ors vs Union of India Case (2015), the Central government argued that the inclusion of classes or groups in state OBC lists is a strong and compelling reason for the inclusion of such classes in the central lists. Because, in our constitutional scheme, the Union and state governments need to work in tandem and not at cross purposes. The Supreme Court judgment validated this argument.

Issues related to OBCs reservation

• OBCs are identified differently at the state and central levels. For example, the State OBC list and Central OBC list.
• But the SCs and STs are identified “with respect to any State or Union Territory” and have only one list and one status, both at the level of state and central government.
• The “two-status” castes deny reservations in all these important avenues like IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS, and coveted educational institutions like the IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, and the Central universities.
• Across all the states, there are hundreds of such OBC castes whose members are being denied reservation benefits in central government jobs.