&w=3840&q=100)
Backwardness only benchmark to decide OBC status, not religion: Mamata
The chief minister said that 49 subsections have been included under the OBC-A and 91 under OBC-B categories
Press Trust of India Kolkata
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday told the state Assembly that backwardness is the only benchmark to decide the OBC status of people.
Maintaining that a disinformation campaign is continuing on social media by some quarters, she asserted that there is no connection with religion in deciding the inclusion of any person in the OBC category.
Noting that the only benchmark for deciding OBC status in the state is backwardness, Banerjee said that a commission set up by the government is holding a survey on 50 new subsections for inclusion in that category.
The chief minister said that 49 subsections have been included under the OBC-A and 91 under OBC-B categories.
She said that while more backward sections of people have been included under OBC-A, the less backward people come under OBC-B.
The chief minister addressed the House after laying the annual report of the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes for the financial year 2024-25.
Banerjee said that all inclusions have been done after extensive field surveys and on the basis of recommendations by the commission appointed for identification of such people.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
2 hours ago
- New Indian Express
CM Majhi announces plans to visit all Assembly segments in his government's second year
BHUBANESWAR: Day ahead of completing one year in office, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday reiterated the commitment of his government to fulfil the aspirations of people, and announced his plan to visit all Assembly constituencies to gain first-hand knowledge of the issues and address them. Inaugurating the state-level Vikas Mela 2025 at the Exhibition Ground here, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the BJP government, the chief minister said, 'In a democracy, the voice of the people is akin to the voice of God. If people cannot share their problems and struggles with their elected government, such a democracy is lifeless. After my party came to the power, I prioritised direct engagement with the public to resolve their problems on the spot. I have covered all the districts over the past year to review development works. The experience has been rewarding,' Majhi said. The chief minister said it is for the strong determination and commitment to serve the people, the state government has successfully implemented a majority of its 21 promises made during the polls. He credited the guidance and support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for aiding the efforts. He said his government has prioritised empowerment of all sections, particularly the poor, farmers, women and youth and is working diligently in this direction.
India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
Air India London flight crashes after take-off from Ahmedabad, leaders react
Political leaders across the spectrum reacted with shock and sorrow on Thursday after an Air India flight to London crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, operating as flight AI-171, had 242 people on board, including 230 passengers and 12 crew Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said he was 'shocked and devastated' by the incident. 'I'm personally monitoring the situation. All agencies have been directed to respond swiftly,' he posted on social media. Rescue teams and fire engines were sent to the site immediately after the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the crash 'tragic' and said she was praying for survivors. 'We anxiously wait for details,' she said in a plane, commanded by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kundar, crashed just minutes after takeoff from runway 23 at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. It gave a distress call to ATC, but lost contact soon said a detailed probe has been ordered, and more information will be released after preliminary findings are of Thursday evening, rescue operations were still ongoing. No official word yet on the number of casualties.
Mint
3 hours ago
- Mint
Sanjoy Chakravorty: A caste census is a Pandora's Box that India must open anyway
It appears that India's much delayed 2021 Population Census will likely take place in 2027 and that it will include caste enumeration. If this does happen and the results are released, we will see caste data at the national level for the first time after 1931. The demand for a caste census has been growing for years, especially from the Congress, several other members of the INDIA block and many states. In fact, the 2011 Census had included an enumeration of castes, but the data was never released (for reasons discussed below). Bihar conducted a state-level caste survey in 2022. The governments of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, among others, have been vociferous in their support of this step. With the acquiescence of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs this April, all major political interests are now aligned in favour of a caste census. Also Read: Himanshu: India's caste census must serve its purpose Caste demography represents a massive and critical gap in India's self-knowledge. There is some information on the most marginalized groups: Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who comprise roughly 16.6% and 8.6% respectively of the population. Together, they make up about one-quarter of the country's people. Another 20% are people who do not identify as Hindu: Muslims (14.2%), Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.7%), Buddhists (0.7%), Jains (0.4%) and others, according to the 2011 Census. That leaves about 55% of the Indian population as undifferentiated Hindus, including Forward and Dominant Castes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Therefore, the purpose of a caste census is primarily to disaggregate and understand the composition of this 55%. While there is some interest in learning more about the demography of Forward and Dominant Castes, the most important objective of a caste census is to estimate the size and composition of the OBC population. This is surely India's largest social group. But how large is it? No one knows. The Mandal Commission (1980) placed it at 52% of the total population. The National Sample Survey Organization calculated it to be 32-36% in 2000 and 41% in 2006. Other government and non- government surveys place the number in the 30-35% range. The Bihar caste survey counted 63% of the state's population as OBC. Also Read: Caste census? Okay, but we must handle it with care Why is there so much imprecision and uncertainty about India's OBC population? There are several answers to this question. For one, self-identification of social identity can be tricky: people may have mixed identities, or they may believe they have an identity that does not match official categories, or they may choose not to identify as 'Backward' in any way. Second, the official categories themselves aren't fixed. The Union ministry of social justice and empowerment, which is in charge of maintaining caste lists, moves castes in and out of the OBC list based on dynamic factors (like education and economic conditions). Moreover, the OBC category is itself very diverse: castes that may be lagging in some regions may be dominant landowning groups or thriving small business communities in others. So much so, that there exists a quasi-official category called 'upper OBCs' that includes caste groups like Yadav, Kurmi, Koeri and Bania (in Bihar). Also Read: We need a reformation: Caste salience must fall for India's social capital to rise One of the main reasons for the caste census data of 2011 not being released, as reported, is that people self-identified in tens of thousands of castes, so it became impossible to impose some sort of order on the data. This is also what happened when the British Indian government began conducting the census exercise in 1867-72. The original intent was to capture caste data under the so-called Chaturvarna system: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. That turned out to be impossible. By the 1901 Census, there were 1,641 castes and sub-castes listed; by 1931, the last census with caste information, that list had grown to 4,147. C.F. McGrath, who was the commissioner of Independent India's first Census in 1951, had earlier concluded that the 'meaningless division into the four castes alleged to have been made by Manu should be put aside." Also Read: The Bihar caste survey marks a big step towards a reality check The only solution to this 'problem' of India's teeming diversity is to reduce it; to impose order by using a preset rather than open-ended caste list. This is what Bihar's survey did and is presumably what the national Caste Census of 2027 plans to do. The obvious problem with this is that by reducing choice, millions of people may feel un- or mis-represented and therefore opt out of the system. This points us to a deeper problem with this approach. A census does not merely record reality, but alters it by imposing order (by using categories and lists). A census therefore shapes the world it seeks to describe and reactions to it then reshape the census and the world it describes. One possibility with a pre-set caste list is that unlisted castes will begin to disappear as recognized social identities. Another possibility is that resistance and political action will shape future caste lists. Also Read: A national caste census looks all but inevitable A census is a powerful tool with wide-ranging and long-lasting consequences. The British Indian censuses were arguably the most important social experiments ever carried out in the subcontinent. The categories and categorical definitions they created—especially for religion but also for caste and tribe—have come to be accepted as real and permanent. This space does not permit any further exposition. Interested readers may look up my 2019 book The Truth About Us. There is no doubt about India's need for a Caste Census that provides robust information on the composition of 55% of its population. Core policies on welfare, education and employment should ideally be based on this data, but have been shooting in the dark at shape-shifting targets so far. But let us not play down the challenges of doing this well and recognize that, even if done well, the Caste Census will inevitably change the composition and politics of caste in ways that are impossible to predict now. The author is a professor of geography, environment and urban studies and director of global studies at Temple University.
