Who Are the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs ?
The Simon Commission in 1935 first coined the term ‘Scheduled Castes’. The untoucable castes from each British province was scheduled. This was on the basis of 1931 census of then India. This list was then published by Government in 1936 as 'The Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1936'
On the basis of 1931 census British government passed Government of India Act 1935. The reservation for the Depressed Classes was incorporated into the act, which came into force in 1937. Depressed class later came to known as Schedule Caste.
Schedule tribe were the tribes or communities who were isolated from rest communities and weren't abide to any religion. The different tribes with their unique culture and tradition were spread from west to east with large portion in northwest parts(Now FATA in Pakistan) and small portion of them in southern parts also. British government in 1935 identified it as 'Schedule of Tribes' which had different types of indigenous tribal groups i.e Denotified tribes, criminal tribes, forest dwellers etc.
By 1937 both the section were given positive affirmative action rights and political representation. After independence of India the constitution continued the affirmative action for Depressed class which were now termed as 'Schedule Caste' and Schedule of tribes with revised list termed 'Schedule Tribe'. The complete list of castes and tribes was made on order of 1950 which had certain norms and criteria for inclusion of other community later. However the Schedule tribes list was put in updation due to partition as it was very difficult to rectify tribals as they were geographically isolated and were shy in contacts to other people. Thus the list of Schedule tribe was completely updated by 1958 with 744 enlisted tribes.
Other backward caste
Many wouldn't know but the the key person for initiating Other backward class commission in 1953 was Abdul Qaiyum Ansari. An stauch Gandhian Abdul Ansari argued that their were still communities whom were in between Suvarnas and Dalits, needed extra attention. Thus the First Backward Classes Commission was set up by a presidential order on 29 January 1953 under the chairmanship of Kaka Kalelkar. The commission submitted its report in 1955. It had prepared a list of around 2400 backward castes for the entire country and of which 837 had been classified as the 'most backward'. The commission also put some recommendations like reserving 70% of reservations for OBC in education, Caste-wise census for better figures and OBC reservation in government jobs. But this recommendation were not approved by government as it feared that some of caste would totally dominate this homogeneous group of communities as some of the enlisted castes were dominant in particular regions.
Mandal commission
The second backward class commission was established on 1 January 1979, B.P Mandal as its chairperson. The commission submitted its report in december 1980. which included both Hindus and non-Hindus consisted around 52% of the total population. Mandal commission recommended 27% of reservation as the SC had set bar for reservation to not extend 50% in any case. The recommendation included to reserve 27% of seats for OBC in education and government jobs, relaxation in upper age limit for jobs, separate hostel for OBC student, vocal training for OBC youth. The Government accepted mentioned recommendation in 1989 and established OBC category with extra added reservation policy. By 1993 government introduced creamy layer with 1 lakh income cap which has been revised many times.
The rest of communities which are not part of any category are entitled as Generals.
On the basis of 1931 census British government passed Government of India Act 1935. The reservation for the Depressed Classes was incorporated into the act, which came into force in 1937. Depressed class later came to known as Schedule Caste.
Schedule tribe were the tribes or communities who were isolated from rest communities and weren't abide to any religion. The different tribes with their unique culture and tradition were spread from west to east with large portion in northwest parts(Now FATA in Pakistan) and small portion of them in southern parts also. British government in 1935 identified it as 'Schedule of Tribes' which had different types of indigenous tribal groups i.e Denotified tribes, criminal tribes, forest dwellers etc.
By 1937 both the section were given positive affirmative action rights and political representation. After independence of India the constitution continued the affirmative action for Depressed class which were now termed as 'Schedule Caste' and Schedule of tribes with revised list termed 'Schedule Tribe'. The complete list of castes and tribes was made on order of 1950 which had certain norms and criteria for inclusion of other community later. However the Schedule tribes list was put in updation due to partition as it was very difficult to rectify tribals as they were geographically isolated and were shy in contacts to other people. Thus the list of Schedule tribe was completely updated by 1958 with 744 enlisted tribes.
Other backward caste
Many wouldn't know but the the key person for initiating Other backward class commission in 1953 was Abdul Qaiyum Ansari. An stauch Gandhian Abdul Ansari argued that their were still communities whom were in between Suvarnas and Dalits, needed extra attention. Thus the First Backward Classes Commission was set up by a presidential order on 29 January 1953 under the chairmanship of Kaka Kalelkar. The commission submitted its report in 1955. It had prepared a list of around 2400 backward castes for the entire country and of which 837 had been classified as the 'most backward'. The commission also put some recommendations like reserving 70% of reservations for OBC in education, Caste-wise census for better figures and OBC reservation in government jobs. But this recommendation were not approved by government as it feared that some of caste would totally dominate this homogeneous group of communities as some of the enlisted castes were dominant in particular regions.
Mandal commission
The second backward class commission was established on 1 January 1979, B.P Mandal as its chairperson. The commission submitted its report in december 1980. which included both Hindus and non-Hindus consisted around 52% of the total population. Mandal commission recommended 27% of reservation as the SC had set bar for reservation to not extend 50% in any case. The recommendation included to reserve 27% of seats for OBC in education and government jobs, relaxation in upper age limit for jobs, separate hostel for OBC student, vocal training for OBC youth. The Government accepted mentioned recommendation in 1989 and established OBC category with extra added reservation policy. By 1993 government introduced creamy layer with 1 lakh income cap which has been revised many times.
The rest of communities which are not part of any category are entitled as Generals.
Comments
Post a Comment