Revising its policy on Other Backward Castes following a juridical rap on its knuckle the Bengal Government has given approval to include 76 new castes in addition to the previous existing 64 to its list of OBCs, sources said adding the list would not be tabled in the State Assembly for its approval. The two-week Assembly session will begin on June 9.
While two of the earlier 66 notified castes have been dropped (as they did not match the required criteria) the remaining 64 have been retained and another 76 castes have been added taking the entire list to 140 OBC castes, an official said adding the recommendations to add more castes to the OBC list were made by the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes (WBCBC).
The State Government is also likely to retain its 17 per cent OBC reservation. The OBC policy was discussed at a state cabinet meeting on Monday.
The legal gridlock on the OBC issue had started in May 2024 when the Calcutta High Court while adjudicating a petition had first red-flagged the State’s OBC list 70 percent of which was allegedly filled by the minority community.
This, notwithstanding the fact that the majority Hindus constitute about 70 percent of the total population as per 2011 census. This led the High Court in May 2024 to nullify 12 lakh OBC certificates triggering a discontent among a sizeable Muslim community who then slammed Mamata Banerjee Government for their discomfeiture.
On the other hand the Hindu groups, particularly the BJP too questioned the Chief Minister’s policy of appeasement at the cost of the majority community of the State. Subsequently the matter went to the Supreme Court which was then assured by the Bengal Government on March 19 that it would complete a fresh OBC survey within three months, setting a June third-week deadline.
According to sources, the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes engaged two independent bodies — Culture Research Institute and Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics — to conduct the fresh survey to assess the socio-economic and educational backwardness of the sub-groups which the Apex Court wanted to know.
Later deliberating on fresh applications the Commission took into consideration an additional 76 sub-groups.
Fresh admissions to Ggovernment funded educational institutions have been stuck in the OBC legal tangle as the administration was not sure about the guidelines in absence of a judicial order.
“We hope this decision will now help the State education system go back to its track,†a retired Director of State Education said adding how “the TMC Government and its leadership has sacrificed the entire education system of Bengal at the alters of appeasement politics.â€
