NCBC recommends inclusion of 7 communities in Central OBC list for Maharashtra

The communities cleared by the NCBC for addition to the Central OBC list on Wednesday were already categorised as OBCs in Maharashtra’s State list; State is going to polls later in the year

Ahead of the Assembly election due in Maharashtra later this year, the National Commission for Backward Classes on Wednesday (October 9, 2024) recommended the inclusion of at least seven communities and their synonyms in the Central List of Other Backward Classes, which will now make them eligible to qualify as OBCs for Central schemes and appointments.

“We have cleared these communities to be added to the Central List after conducting hearings over the last six months. Three to four more communities will likely be green-lit in the upcoming weeks,” NCBC chairperson Hansraj Gangaram Ahir told The Hindu. Mr. Ahir, a former Minister in the first PM Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet, added that some of these communities had been waiting to be added to the Central list for “over a decade”.

The communities cleared by the NCBC for addition to the Central OBC list on Wednesday were already categorised as OBCs in Maharashtra’s State list and have been eligible for benefits under State schemes and reservation in State appointments. These communities are, “(i) Lodh, Lodha, Lodhi; (ii) Badgujar, (iii) Suryavanshi Gujar, (iv) Leve Gujar, Reve Gujar, Reva Gujar; (v) Dangari; (vi) Bhoyar, Pawar (vii) Kapewar, Munnar Kapewar, Munnar Kapu, Telanga, Telangi, Pentarreddy, Bukekari”.

A Social Justice Ministry statement issued late on Wednesday night said the NCBC submitted its advice on October 9 to the Union government, recommending that they be included in the Central List of OBCs. The government said that a two-member Bench of the NCBC, comprising the Chairperson and Member Bhuvan Bhushan Kamal held the hearings and signed off on the advice recommending their inclusion.

According to modalities for inclusion finalised by the NCBC in 2022, any advice of the Commission in this regard “shall be duly signed and authenticated by Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, and all Members of the Commission”.

The current Commission does not have a Vice-Chairperson. Apart from Mr. Ahir, Bhuvan Bhushan Kamal is serving on the NCBC as one of the three mandated Members it is supposed to have.

The government said that a Bench comprising Chairperson Ahir and Member Kamal held hearings on the seven communities and their synonyms on October 17, 2023, and July 26 this year, after which the final decision on their inclusion was taken on (October 8) Tuesday.

Mr. Ahir told The Hindu, “These communities are part of a total of 21 communities that have been requesting to be added to the Central OBC list. These communities are already in the State OBC lists and the State government has already made requests seeking their addition to the Central list as well. Three or four more of them might cleared by the Commission in the coming weeks.”

The Chairperson of NCBC added that the requests for inclusion are being considered specifically with “current data” in mind. “We are ensuring that the justification for the communities’ inclusion is backed by current data on their socio-economic status. So, the requirement, as set down by the Supreme Court, is that this data be of at least 2015 or later, he said, citing the judgement in the Ram Singh Vs Union of India case.

This is the same judgement the NCBC has cited to stall requests for the inclusion of close to 80 communities, most of them Muslim, from West Bengal, while arguing that there was no “current data” on their backwardness. And while the Supreme Court is currently hearing the matter related to the communities from West Bengal, Mr. Ahir has maintained: “We cannot proceed unless we have data on the communities’ backwardness from 2015 or later.”

Determining backwardness as per the Mandal Commission’s criteria would require information on several parameters of social backwardness, educational backwardness, and economic backwardness of each community.

Soon after he took charge of the NCBC in December 2022, Mr. Ahir had said that the Commission would focus on expediting pending requests for the inclusion of communities in the Central OBC List. In June 2023, he had said the Commission was working on clearing around 80 castes from multiple States for addition to the Central list.

Published - October 09, 2024 11:49 pm IST