{"id":14658,"date":"2021-04-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/03-04-2021\/obc-count-in-census\/"},"modified":"2021-04-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T00:00:00","slug":"obc-count-in-census","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/03-04-2021\/obc-count-in-census","title":{"rendered":"OBC Count In Census"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) <\/strong>has urged the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to collect data on the population of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the country \u201cas part of Census of India 2021 exercise\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Background<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The panel had written to the <strong>Social Justice and Empowerment Minister<\/strong> on December 12, 2018, requesting for <strong>appropriate Budget provision<\/strong> for a<strong> proposed all-India survey<\/strong> for an estimate of the <strong>caste-wise population of OBCs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Recent instances <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In January 2021, both the Odisha and the Maharashtra governments had adopted similar resolutions urging the government to determine the population of <strong>Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the country. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Bihar became the third state to pass a resolution in its assembly demanding that the 2021 Census exercise be based on caste.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Need for OBC count in the census <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There have been <strong>growing demands<\/strong> for a <strong>caste census<\/strong> with the <strong>general census<\/strong> in <strong>2022 since Justice G Rohini-led commission<\/strong> submitted a draft proposal recommending a <strong>sub-categorisation of the reservation for the OBC<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Rohini Commission,<\/strong> too, is <strong>facing difficulties<\/strong> due to the <strong>unavailability of data<\/strong> on <strong>various communities classified under OBCs.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Experts believe the idea of <strong>sub-categorisation <\/strong>would be a meaningless exercise without the <strong>caste census<\/strong> that could help the <strong>government understand the exact deprivation levels.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>They also say it would perpetuate the historical injustice as those deprived among OBCs can be left out because the present reservation is based on the <strong>1931 caste census<\/strong> when India\u2019s population was 270 million.\n<ul>\n<li>The 1931 caste census included present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh also.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Beginning of Caste Census <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A population census was first carried out by the<strong> British colonial state in 1872.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0The 65-page census volume enumerated the populations of various castes,<strong> including Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Rajputs, across several provinces. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Caste populations were specifically counted based on their traditional occupations at the time.\n<ul>\n<li>For instance, \u201c<strong>Hindoos\u201d in the Madras province<\/strong> were counted in <strong>17 sets,<\/strong> which included <strong>\u201cpriests, warriors, traders, agriculturists, shepherds and pastoral<\/strong> <strong>castes\u201d among others<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The last time comprehensive data on caste was collected was in the <strong>1931 Census<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why has it not been carried out since 1931?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The categories of \u2018Race, Caste or Tribe\u2019 was replaced by the \u2018Scheduled Tribe\/ Scheduled Caste\u2019.\n<ul>\n<li>There is little documentation about the discussion or debate that had transpired between leaders of the time on what the census would include.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Subsequent reports and studies have attributed to the belief that \u201cincluding caste data in census enumeration will perpetuate the<strong> caste system and deepen social divisions\u201d<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>Recording of caste was abandoned after Indian Independence in 1947, to help smooth the<strong> growth of a secular state.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:735px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color:#fff2cc; width:6.5in\">\n<p><strong>Reservation in India for OBC<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The<strong> Kalelkar Commission,<\/strong> set up in<strong> 1953<\/strong>, was the first to<strong> identify backward classes<\/strong> other than the <strong>Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs)<\/strong> at the national level.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Mandal Commission Report, 1980<\/strong> estimated the <strong>OBC population at 52% <\/strong>and classified <strong>1,257 communities as backward.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It recommended increasing the existing quotas, which were only for<strong> SC\/ST, from 22.5% to 49.5% to include the OBCs.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The central government reserved <strong>27% of seats<\/strong> in <strong>union civil posts<\/strong> and <strong>services for OBCs [Article 16(4)].<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The Constitution refers to the term <strong>\u2018backward classes\u2019 in Articles 15(4), 16(4)<\/strong> and 340(1).<strong> Articles 15(4) and 16(4) <\/strong>empower the State to make special provisions for any socially and educationally backward class of citizens<\/li>\n<li>In 2008, the Supreme Court directed the central government to exclude the creamy layer (advanced sections) among the OBCs.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>102nd Constitution Amendment Act, 2018 <\/strong>provided constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), which was previously a statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a Constitutional Body under Article 338B of the Constitution of India under the Ministry of Social Justice &#038; Empowerment<\/li>\n<li>It has the authority to examine complaints and welfare measures regarding socially and educationally backward classes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/backward-classes-panel-urges-govt-to-carry-out-obc-count-in-census-7254999\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source :IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has urged the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to collect data on the population of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the country \u201cas part of Census of India 2021 exercise\u201d. Background The panel had written to the Social Justice and Empowerment Minister on December 12, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[31,30,39],"class_list":["post-14658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-government-policies-interventions","tag-gs-2","tag-issues-arising-out-of-their-design-implementation"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/6284759current-affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}