Centre to begin special drive to fill backlog in OBC vacancies

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which monitors the progress in filling up of backlog reserved vacancies for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), in these  ministries and departments under Central government, has given an instruction to its officials to begin the drive. 

To achieve the goal, the DoPT has issued instructions to all ministries and departments to constitute an in-House committee for identification of backlog reserved vacancies. 

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh  informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question on Thursday. 

It is also directed that the concerned ministries and the departments will study the root cause of such vacancies and submit their report to the DoPT within two months, a senior official told IANS requesting anonymity. 

The purpose is to initiate measures to remove the factors causing such vacancies and to fill them up through "Special Recruitment Drives". 

Representation of OBCs has shown an increasing trend since it started in September 1993. 

As per current DoPT data, representation of OBCs, as on January 1, 2012, was 16.55 per cent, which has increased to 20.46 per cent as on January 1, 2019. The data is based on information received from 53 ministries and departments under the Central government.