Odisha to launch OBC survey, 2nd after Bihar

BHUBANESHWAR: Amid allegations of Odisha government depriving OBCs of proper facilities, the state has decided to conduct a survey for their enumeration and complete the process by July 12. Odisha will be the second state after Bihar to collect data on the socio-economic conditions of people from backward classes.

The move ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and Odisha Assembly elections is being seen by opposition parties as an attempt by the ruling BJD to attract voters from backward classes, who constitute approximately 54 per cent of the state's population.

The state government maintained that the survey will help to make effective policies for backward classes to ensure their socio-economic development.

Though the Odisha's BJD government had earlier decided to conduct the survey in May and June 2021 after constituting the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes (OSCBC), it had to be postponed due to the second wave of COVID-19, officials said.

OSCBC had identified 209 communities in Odisha as socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC). The number has now increased to 231 after the state cabinet recently approved inclusion of 22 more castes in the state OBC list.

The state government's earlier attempt to earmark 27 per cent quota for OBCs was challenged in the Odisha Administrative Tribunal as it exceeded the reservation ceiling of 50 per cent in respect of ST, SC and SEBC in public employment, as laid down by Supreme Court.

It had to be brought down to 11.25%.

The member secretary of the National Commission for Backward Classes, V V Yadav said state government has accepted the OSCBC's proposal to resume the survey of the social and educational conditions of people in the category.

The entire process of the survey in all 314 blocks and areas under 114 civic bodies in the state will be completed by July 12, 2023, he said in a letter to the collectors and commissioners of municipal corporations, he said in a letter. The survey will be undertaken under the supervision of OSCBC and district collectors and municipal chiefs should prepare and send their survey management plans to the Commission by the first week of March.The plans will contain district profiles, information on survey centers, enumerators, supervisors and other survey-related officers, along with their deployment.

The opposition BJP has criticised the state government for not taking measures to ensure reservations for OBCs in education and employment.

BJP MLA Suryavanshi Suraj termed the government's move as "vote bank politics".

"The survey has been ordered to get OBC votes in the coming general and state polls. The BJD government in the last 22 years has done nothing for the OBCs," Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati alleged.

BJD MLA Swarup Das said that Odisha government believes in inclusive development and only BJP can say whether it has some hidden agenda or not.