Prez forms new panel for OBC sub-categorisation

NEW DELHI: President Ramnath Kovind on Monday appointed a new panel to examine the subcategorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for a “more equitable distribution” of quota benefits.

To be headed by former justice G Rohini, the panel includes Dr JK Bajaj of the Centre for Policy Studies as a member; director of the Anthropological Survey of India and Registrar General and Census Commissioner as ex-officio members; and a joint secretary in the ministry of social justice and empowerment as secretary of the Commission.

The decision to appoint the panel was cleared by the Union cabinet in August.

The panel, which has to submit its report within 12 weeks from the date of its appointment, has the mandate to examine the extent of inequitable distribution of reservation benefits among castes and communities and work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for the sub-categorisation within such OBCs. It will also take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of OBCs and classifying them into their respective sub-categories.

The move to assess sub-categorisation is perceived as a political move ahead of the next round of elections, including those for Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, MP and Chhattisgarh.

Even as the government asserts that the exercise “reinforces its efforts to achieve greater social justice ”, the move is expected to lead to political realignments in states, to bring together a coalition of non-dominant castes among OBCs to upstage regional leaders from dominant caste groups