In mission to trigger review of State OBC lists, NCBC hits a wall of absent socio-economic data

The National Commission for Backward Classes’s work is now being cited by PM Modi to attack Congress’s social justice platform

For the last one year or so, the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), under the chairmanship of former Union Minister Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, has been focused on triggering a pruning of State OBC lists in a bid to re-evaluate the continued inclusion of communities that might have progressed due to years of accruing benefits. 

This exercise has led the Commission to now question the “abundance” of Muslim communities in the OBC lists of States like Karnataka and West Bengal and in the latter’s case, it has also stalled requests to include around 80 castes/communities in the Central OBC list, questioning the validity of the reports relied upon by the State government. 

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It is soon planning for similar State reviews of Kerala, Odisha, Bihar, Maharashtra and other States, where it also intends to ensure that the maximum available OBC reservation within the 50% limit is granted. 

As the NCBC starts invoking powers granted to it under the 102nd Constitution Amendment brought in by the Modi government, to “evaluate progress of OBCs in States”, its efforts are being cited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his attacks on the Congress’ social justice platform as campaigning heats up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. 

And while the NCBC repeatedly asks States to justify continued inclusions in their OBC lists, it faces a singular hurdle — that of absent data on current socio-economic conditions of OBCs — and is pressing on States like West Bengal and Karnataka to produce this information. 

The Congress’ key social justice plank for the ongoing elections has been the promise of a nation-wide socio-economic caste census.