Existing income limit for non-creamy layer OBCs is ‘considered sufficient’, Centre tells LS

The National Commission for Backward Classes has consistently maintained from as early as 2011 that the income limit should be raised to at least ₹10 lakh

View of the Lok Sabha during Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, on Feb. 7, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI

The existing income limit for determining the non-creamy layer among Other Backward Classes (OBC) “is considered sufficient” and hence there is no proposal currently under the Union government’s consideration to revise the said income limit, the Social Justice Ministry said in Parliament on Tuesday. 

Currently, an annual income of both parents of ₹8 lakh or more excludes OBCs from availing reservation, putting them in the creamy layer category, leaving benefits only for those earning less than that. 

This comes despite repeated demands and recommendations for increasing this income limit so that it may cover more of those who deserve to be included in the quota system. 

In addition to Backward Class associations, the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has consistently maintained from as early as 2011 that the income limit should be raised to at least ₹10 lakh. 

Ever since the OBC quota was introduced, the Union government has as a practice been asking the NCBC to evaluate the need to raise this income limit based on current circumstances. Reports of these evaluations showed that this became practice since the first time the limit was revised in 2004, following which the NCBC would be entrusted to do the same every three years. 

Once the limit was raised to ₹2.5 lakh in 2004, it was again revised to ₹4.5 lakh in 2008, to ₹6 lakh in 2013, and to ₹8 lakh in 2017. 

However, the 2013 and 2017 revisions flew in the face of the recommendations made by the NCBC. In its 2011 report on the issue, the Commission noted that the income limit should be raised to at least ₹9 lakh in rural areas and ₹12 lakh in urban areas. 

Further, in its 2015 report, the Commission again noted that the previous time’s recommendation had not been adhered to by the government. But it went on to suggest that the income limit should be raised to at least ₹10.5 lakh. 

Following this, an internal government task force headed by former Department of Personnel and Training Secretary B.P. Sharma had also concluded in its 2019 report that the income limit for determining the creamy layer among OBCs should be raised to ₹12 lakh.