Around 80 more communities likely to be added to Central OBC list

The communities that are now likely to be added to the Central list are from States such as Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana.

Approximately 80 more castes in six States are now likely to be added to the Central List of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the coming months, with the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) already processing the approval for most of them, panel chairperson Hansraj Gangaram Ahir has told The Hindu.

This comes at a time when the Union government has boasted of adding communities to the OBC list as one of the achievements of the administration under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last nine years. 

In a report released by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) last week, the government had said that under the leadership of PM Modi, it had facilitated the addition of as many as 16 communities to the Central list of OBCs in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The communities that are now likely to be added to the Central list are from States such as Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana.

The Telangana government has requested that about 40 communities currently listed under the State OBC list should be added to the Central list. On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh has sought the addition of the Turup Kapu community, whereas Himachal Pradesh has asked for the Majhra community to be added. 

The Maharashtra government has asked that the Lodhi, Lingayat, Bhoyar Pawar, Jhandse communities in the State also be added to the Central list of OBCs. Similarly, Punjab has asked for the Yadav community to be included and Haryana has asked for the Gosai/Gosain community to be added. 

Mr. Ahir told The Hindu, “These are part of requests that the Commission is bound to examine and we have started to process them adequately - and most should go through. Once we decide, we can send the recommendation to the Cabinet.”