5 months ago
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The communicative truthful far:
The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has recommended the exclusion of 35 communities, mostly Muslim, from West Bengal’s Central database of Other Backward Classes (OBCs). This accusation was revealed successful the wintertime league of Parliament this twelvemonth by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which added that this proposal was tendered by the Commission successful January this year. This has travel conscionable months earlier West Bengal is acceptable to ballot successful its adjacent Assembly predetermination successful 2026. Moreover, the Supreme Court is successful the mediate of proceeding pleas related to the mode successful which definite communities were added to the State’s OBC lists. It remains to beryllium seen if the Union authorities volition initiate steps to enactment connected the Commission’s recommendation.
Which communities person been excluded?
Officials of the NCBC person told The Hindu that the communities recommended by it for exclusion are portion of a batch of communities that were added to the Central OBC database of West Bengal successful 2014, conscionable up of the Lok Sabha elections that year. “These are portion of the Muslim communities that were added suspiciously. Maybe 1 oregon 2 of the communities recommended for exclusion are non-Muslim,” said Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, nether whose chairmanship the proposal was made.
The batch of communities the NCBC is referring to is simply a acceptable of 37 communities that were added to West Bengal’s Central OBC database successful aboriginal 2014, based connected its ain 2011 recommendation. The State Commission for Backward Classes had, successful November 2010, studied 46 castes and communities, concluding that they suffice arsenic socially and educationally backward classes who are under-represented successful services. These groups were added to the State OBC list.
By 2011, the petition from West Bengal to see these communities successful the Central OBC database was examined by the erstwhile National Commission for Backward Classes, headed by Justice M. N. Rao. This NCBC recommended that 37 of these communities beryllium included successful the Central OBC list. 35 of them were Muslim communities that were thought to person converted from “lower Hindu castes”. Most of the members of these communities worked arsenic manual labourers, rickshaw pullers, bidi rollers, barbers, cultivation labourers, tailors, etc. The lone non-Muslim groups were the Devanga and Gangot communities.
Why were they included initially?
At the clip of recommending the inclusion of these communities successful the Central OBC database of West Bengal, the erstwhile NCBC relied wholly connected the findings of the State Commission for Backward Classes, based connected which the State had besides included them successful the State OBC lists.
In discussing each of the communities’ justification for inclusion, the Commission, astatine the time, concluded that they were each socially backward successful presumption of however they were treated successful society, educationally backward successful presumption of schoolhouse admissions and drop-out rates, and economically backwards successful presumption of being landless, oregon moving menial jobs, oregon being stuck to circumstantial caste/community professions. In astir each of the cases, the committee mentioned their deficiency of practice successful the services. With respect to immoderate of the Muslim communities, the NCBC said that their professions, specified arsenic barbers, were historically associated with being performed by “lower castes” and hence, these communities faced favoritism from some Muslims and Hindus successful society, which was starring to their social, educational, and economical backwardness. Similarly, the Commission noted successful immoderate cases that the communities’ Hindu counterparts successful different States had already been classified arsenic OBCs or, successful immoderate cases, Scheduled Castes (SCs). And successful immoderate different cases, the Commission said the communities were treated “like Scheduled Castes” successful their caller religion of Islam, with grounds of them being asked to clasp Namaz separately.
The NCBC’s recommendations to see these communities happened successful the backdrop of government-commissioned reports specified arsenic the Sachar Committee Report of 2006 and the Ranganath Mishra Committee Report of 2007, which had looked astatine the marginalisation of Muslims successful India and the socio-educational and economical presumption of historically Dalit communities that had converted to Islam oregon Christianity, respectively.
The Sachar Committee Report had compared the marginalisation of Muslims successful India to that of the SC communities, whereas the Ranganath Mishra Committee had studied them arsenic Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians, concluding that Dalit communities continued to look a caste obstruction station conversion of faith, advocating de-linking the SC classification from a religion test.
Why are they present being excluded?
Now, astir 15 years aft the NCBC made these recommendations, the Commission, nether the chairmanship of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) person Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, has changed its reasoning and asked that they beryllium removed from the Central OBC list. This proposal is simply a culmination of the efforts Mr. Ahir has made since helium took complaint of the Commission successful 2022.
In February 2023, earlier Mr. Ahir had a Vice-Chair oregon immoderate Members connected his Commission, the NCBC undertook a survey sojourn to West Bengal and began scrutinising the OBC list. Weeks aft this survey visit, Mr. Ahir told a property league successful New Delhi that determination was “something wrong” with the State’s OBC lists, raising suspicion implicit the “high fig of Muslim communities” successful them. That year, the NCBC had besides begun taking enactment of the Muslim communities successful the OBC database of Karnataka.
This accusation was soon utilized by the BJP successful its governmental rhetoric, accusing the Opposition of Muslim-appeasement astatine the outgo of different communities successful the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. By May 2024, the Calcutta High Court had struck down the inclusion of a ample fig of communities from the OBC lists, mostly Muslim. In that judgment, the High Court had concluded that religion had been the “sole criterion for declaring these communities arsenic OBC”. It had recovered the “selection of 77 classes of Muslims arsenic backwards an affront to the Muslim assemblage arsenic a whole”. The High Court judgement had impacted 5 lakh OBC certificates issued successful the State since 2010.
But with the Supreme Court besides proceeding the matter, it stayed the High Court’s order. However, the NCBC proceeded with its scrutiny of the State’s Central OBC list, arguing that galore of the State OBC communities recovered suspicious were communal with a batch of communities added to the Central database successful 2014. By January 2025, the NCBC, led by Mr. Ahir, recommended that 35 of the 37 communities added successful 2014 beryllium excluded from the Central OBC database of West Bengal. In December this year, helium finished his tenure arsenic NCBC Chair.
How had the erstwhile NCBC responded?
The contented present raised by the NCBC — of whether definite OBC classifications were made based connected religion implicit backwardness — had been placed earlier the erstwhile Commission successful 2011 arsenic well. At the clip of recommending the inclusion successful 2011, the NCBC had archetypal considered objections that this was a governmental petition intended to payment lone Muslims.
In the archetypal fewer pages of its advice, the Commission dismissed these objections raised by advocator Kartik Chandra Kapas, besides past Eastern Zone Chairman of the National Union for Backward Classes, SC, ST, and Minorities. It had said astatine the clip that these allegations were being made for publicity, adding, “We bash not find immoderate governmental space successful the enactment of the State government.”
The NCBC had further made it a constituent to accent that these communities had been recovered socially and educationally backwards with precise small practice successful the services by the State Commission, and that this decision had been accepted by the State authorities arsenic well. It had frankincense concluded that the NCBC “cannot instrumentality up an autarkic survey” to find communities’ backwardness due to the fact that specified an enquiry had already been conducted.
In the proposal it tendered to the Central authorities astatine the time, the NCBC relied connected the conclusions of the State Commission for Backward Classes. While successful the lawsuit of the Devanga and Gangot communities, the NCBC proposal mentioned their numbers successful the population, schoolhouse drop-out rates, income, etc., for astir of the different communities, its proposal referred to their backwardness without providing information for these socio-economic indicators.
While proceeding this substance successful December 2024, the Supreme Court of India had asked the State authorities for quantifiable information to amusement these communities’ backwardness, successful presumption of deficiency of practice successful nationalist employment, and connected societal and economical backwardness.
What next?
While the NCBC proposal has been sent to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, nary determination appears to person been taken by the Union authorities connected whether to determination up with amending the OBC lists.
Sources person told The Hindu that the NCBC, nether the chairmanship of Mr. Ahir, has sent proposal connected inclusion and exclusion successful the OBC lists of 8 different States to the Ministry.
But hereon, dissimilar successful 2014, the process present requires that immoderate changes to Central OBC lists beryllium brought done Parliament for notification by the President of India.
This is owing to the Constitution (102nd) Amendment Act, brought successful by the archetypal Narendra Modi-led authorities successful 2018, which gave law presumption to the NCBC and specified the relation of Parliament and the President successful identifying socially and educationally backward classes. In 2014, the instrumentality connected identifying OBCs gave the enforcement powerfulness to notify lists based connected the NCBC’s recommendation.
