OBC creamy layer bar raised, new panel to fix sub-categories

NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday announced a panel for sub-categorisation of other backward classes for a “more equitable distribution” of quota benefits, as it raised the income ceiling for “creamy layer”.

The creamy layer, the ceiling that bars people in the OBC category from getting reservation in jobs, has been raised from ₹6 lakh a year to ₹8 lakh.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the commission, which will have to present its report in 12 weeks from the date it is formed, will examine the extent of inequitable distribution of reservation benefits among the castes and communities.

The minister, who was talking to mediapersons after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, said there was no plan for a relook at the reservation system as he also ruled out sub-categorisation of scheduled castes on the lines of OBCs. The sub-categorisation move is being seen as a poll ploy ahead of the next round of state elections, including those for Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

The other election-bound states are HP, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, and then comes the big one – Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

The panel will identify castes, communities, subcastes, synonyms in the central list of OBCs and classify them into their subcategories.

ARUN JAITLEY, finance minister