Cabinet approved Amendments in OBC Central List for 13 States and 3 Union Territories

Union Cabinet on 30 January 2014 gave its approval for making amendments in the Central List of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in 13 states and three Union Territories. The amendments have been done by way of inclusion/correction/deletion of castes/communities as per the advices received from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).

115 changes will be notified by the amendments, which were recommended by the NCBC. The three Union Territories are Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry and the 13 states include
• Andhra Pradesh
• Bihar
• Goa
• Himachal Pradesh
• Jharkhand
• Karnataka
• Kerala
• Maharashtra
• Punjab
• Tamil Nadu
• Uttarakhand
• Uttar Pradesh
• West Bengal

The amendments introduced in the OBCs central list enable a person who belongs to these castes/communities to avail the reservation benefits in government services and posts. They are also eligible in central educational institutions according to existing policies. These will also be eligible for the benefits under various welfare schemes, scholarships and others in those, which are being administered by the Central Government that are available to persons belonging to the OBCs at present.

About National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC)
The Government of India enacted the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 (Act No. 27 of 1993) for setting up a National Commission for Backward Classes at the Centre as a permanent body in pursuant of the direction of the Supreme Court in the Mandal case judgement in the Indira Sawhney case.

NCBC Act 1993, Section 9 (Functions of the Commission) states that
• The Commission shall examine requests for inclusion of any class of citizens as a backward class in the lists and hear complaints of over-inclusion or under-inclusion of any backward class in such lists and tender such advice to the Central Government as it deems appropriate
• The advice of the Commission shall ordinarily be binding upon the Central Government

The NCBC has been tendering advice to the Central Government from time to time. In total 30 Notifications have been issued so far along with 2343 entries (entry means a caste, including its synonyms, sub-castes) have been notified in the Central list of OBCs for 24 States and six Union Territories.