Latest news with #OBC-A
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Backwardness, not religion, sole criterion for fresh OBC survey in Bengal: Mamata
Kolkata: "Backwardness, and not religion, was the sole criterion for the fresh OBC survey in Bengal," CM told the state assembly on Tuesday, tabling the report which has identified 140 communities in the OBC category. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now While there are 49 and 91 subgroups in the OBC-A and OBC-B categories, respectively, 50 more groups are being evaluated for inclusion. The legal gridlock on the OBC issue has had an overriding impact on Bengal, from pausing admissions in schools, colleges and universities to state govt recruitments. Banerjee said the issuance of OBC certificates for college admissions and govt jobs would resume immediately. "Many recruitment boards kept the process on hold due to the legal confusion. That will now be resolved," she said. A Calcutta High Court 2024 ruling (now challenged in SC) had scrapped several groups in the Bengal OBC list, bringing down the 17% OBC reservations to 7% and cancelling around five lakh caste certificates. The fresh report allows the Bengal govt to restore OBC reservations to 17%, allocating 7% for OBC-A and 10% for OBC-B. This is set to increase slightly with the 50 additional groups being evaluated. Banerjee said a deliberate misinformation was being spread over the issue of OBC reservations, dubbing it a "political conspiracy" to mislead people. "A false narrative is being circulated on social media and even by some sections of the media, claiming that reservations are being granted on the basis of religion. This is a complete lie," she said. The CM said the HC striking down OBC status for 113 classes and cancelling the OBC-A and OBC-B sub-categories reduced the overall OBC reservation from 17% to just 7%, severely affecting thousands of beneficiaries across the state. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now On May 22, 2024, the HC, while striking down the OBC list, had observed: "Religion indeed appears to have been the sole criterion for declaring these communities as OBCs." The state govt challenged this in Supreme Court and undertook to conduct a fresh survey within three months and complete it by June-end. Following this, a new Backward Classes Welfare Commission, headed by former Calcutta HC judge Asim Kumar Banerjee, was constituted. The commission began reviewing the inclusion of 117 communities — including the 113 that were earlier excluded — based on a fresh benchmark survey by the Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics. An additional 26 communities also applied for inclusion, prompting the commission to expand its survey. In the report, CM Banerjee said that on May 8, 2025, a new govt notification created fresh sub-categories within the 66 OBC communities that the HC had not invalidated. On May 27, 51 communities were reinstated into the OBC list by the commission, followed by another 25 on June 3. Sub-categorisation was also resumed, placing 35 communities under OBC-A and 41 under OBC-B on the same day. "Every morning, we wake up to a flood of fake news on social media. That is why I felt it was necessary to clarify the entire matter in the assembly," the CM said. Taking a swipe at Left Front, Banerjee said: "No proper surveys were conducted during the CPM era. It was only after we came to office that a benchmark survey was done to create this list. OBC-A groups are comparatively more backward, which is why they are entitled to greater reservation." Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari tried to intervene, but Speaker Biman Banerjee did not allow him to speak. Adhikari alleged that the entire process was an example of appeasing a particular religious community. "The real OBCs will remain deprived," he said, adding that they would present their views during the next hearing in Supreme Court.
The Hindu
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Backwardness only benchmark to decide OBC status, not religion: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday (June 10, 2025) 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, Ms. 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. Ms. 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.
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Business Standard
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
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.)
Time of India
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
OBC status based solely on backwardness, not religion: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee
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. Live Events 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.
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
No OBC quota in JU admission
Kolkata: Jadavpur University has decided not to admit students under the OBC category this year, citing the ongoing Supreme Court case. The Calcutta High Court in May 2024 scrapped all new OBC categorisations in Bengal after 2010, saying the authorities "practised protective discrimination in deviation of constitutional norms". The SC is hearing the state govt's appeal. In 2024, JU had asked candidates admitted under the OBC-A and OBC-B categories to submit an undertaking on a non-judicial stamp paper, stating that their admission will be revoked if their OBC certificates become invalid in the future. The university has written to the higher education department but has not received any suggestion. Recently, a notice for the admission to the bachelor programme of library science course has been published where there is no provision for OBC reservation. "We have taken the decision following legal advice," said an official. Meanwhile, the HC heard a PIL where it was pointed out that several universities were still following the reservation for OBC-A and OBC-B categories in violation of the May 2024 judgment, citing examples from JU. Calcutta University had also written to the higher education department seeking advice. But it too has not received any directive yet. St. Xavier's principal Fr. Dominic Savio said, "We have been having SC, ST and OBC category students from the beginning or from the time we got autonomy. "
