Approximately 80 more castes in six States are now likely to be added to the Central List of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the coming months, with the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) already processing the approval for most of them, panel chairperson Hansraj Gangaram Ahir has told The Hindu.
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This comes at a time when the Union government has boasted of adding communities to the OBC list as one of the achievements of the administration under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last nine years.
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In a report released by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) last week, the government had said that under the leadership of PM Modi, it had facilitated the addition of as many as 16 communities to the Central list of OBCs in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
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The communities that are now likely to be added to the Central list are from States such as Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana.
The Telangana government has requested that about 40 communities currently listed under the State OBC list should be added to the Central list. On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh has sought the addition of the Turup Kapu community, whereas Himachal Pradesh has asked for the Majhra community to be added.
The Maharashtra government has asked that the Lodhi, Lingayat, Bhoyar Pawar, Jhandse communities in the State also be added to the Central list of OBCs. Similarly, Punjab has asked for the Yadav community to be included and Haryana has asked for the Gosai/Gosain community to be added.
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Mr. Ahir told The Hindu, “These are part of requests that the Commission is bound to examine and we have started to process them adequately - and most should go through. Once we decide, we can send the recommendation to the Cabinet.”
As per the Procedure for Addition prescribed in the NCBC Act, 1993, the Commission is mandated to constitute a Bench to examine such proposals and then forward their decision to the Union government (with dissent, where applicable). The Cabinet then needs to approve the additions and bring legislation to this effect, following which the President is empowered to notify the change.
There are currently over 2,650 different communities listed in the Central OBC list for all States and Union Territories, including the 16 communities that were added since 2014. In addition to taking credit for the recent additions, the Union government also noted its move to bring the 105th Amendment to the Constitution. It said that this re-affirmed the States’ right to maintain their own OBC lists - effectively saving 671 State OBC communities from being deprived of benefits.
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Apart from OBCs, government data showed that since the last Census was conducted in 2011, four communities have been added to the Scheduled Caste list as main entries and 40 have been added as sub-entries with four communities being dropped from the list or moved to other lists. As of March 2023, there were about 1,270 communities in the SC list.
Similarly, since 2011, five communities were added to the Scheduled Tribes List as main entries, 22 were added as sub-entries, and 13 were added as substitute terms for existing tribes, with one community being dropped from the list. As of March 2023, there were about 748 communities in the ST list.
Unlike the procedure to add communities to the SC or ST List, additions to the Central OBC list do not have to rely on the concurrence of the Office of the Registrar General of India or any other authority other than the Commission.
The Commission, as per its guidelines, considers additions to the Central OBC list based on social, educational and economic indicators suggested by the Mandal Commission established in 1979.