Rohingyas, Bangladeshis acquired OBC certificates in West Bengal: NCBC
The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has discovered that Rohingyas and unlawful Bangladeshi immigrants have acquired Other Backward Classes (OBC) certificates within the State of West Bengal. NCBC additionally discovered that there are extra Muslim OBC castes within the state in comparison with Hindus when the inhabitants of Hindus are extra.
On Thursday (June 8), NCBC chief Hansraj Gangaram Ahir knowledgeable that 118 out of 179 castes, which have been granted OBC standing in West Bengal, belong to the Muslim group. The matter got here to mild throughout subject surveys performed between February-May 2023.
“We have received several complaints stating that many from the Muslim community included in the list are immigrants from Bangladesh. We are investigating the matter, as this has been done by depriving actual beneficiaries. We have sought a detailed response from the state government,” Ahir knowledgeable.
The NCBC stated, “When we visited the State in February this year, we took up the matter and questioned how there were more Muslim OBC castes than Hindu OBC castes in the State, when the absolute population of Hindus in the State is clearly higher. They did not have satisfactory replies.” He stated that there was “clearly something wrong” with the State OBC checklist in West Bengal, and NCBC will take away communities added to the checklist wrongly.
He acknowledged that the OBC checklist within the State is split into two classes – A (Most Backward Class) and B (Backward Class) and that the primary class is entitled to extra advantages than the opposite.
आयोग को शिकायत मिली है कि पश्चिम बंगाल में कुछ हिन्दू समुदाय के लोग मुस्लिम बने हैं जिन्हें ओबीसी की लिस्ट में शामिल कर लिया गया है ।
— National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) (@NCBC_INDIA) June 8, 2023
According to the NCBC chief, 73 out of the 81 communities listed in Category A are Muslims and solely 8 of them are Hindus, which implies over 90% of communities within the MOBC checklist are Muslims. In class B, greater than half are Muslim communities. “We are not against Muslims getting the benefit of reservation, but such irregularity can’t be accepted,” Ahir emphasised.
He identified that the Commission was verbally instructed in the course of the survey that a number of Hindu OBC communities had transformed to Islam. After in search of a written rationalization, the West Bengal authorities reportedly claimed that it’s unclear how many individuals transformed to Islam, and there’s no proof that every one these communities had transformed from Hinduism.
“It is clear that the state has arbitrarily given non-deserving communities OBC status,” the NCBC chief emphasised. He has directed the State authorities to repair the discrepancies on the earliest.
Reportedly, the Commission had earlier highlighted the difficulty throughout conferences in February and May this yr. The West Bengal authorities depends on experiences revealed by its personal wing, specifically, the Cultural Research Institute (Kolkata), for the inclusion of communities within the OBC checklist.
Flawed reservation coverage in Rajasthan, Bihar and Punjab
The Commission additionally discovered non-implementation of reservation coverage within the Congress-ruled State of Rajasthan. According to it, seven districts had no people with OBC standing though numerous backward communities have been residing in these areas.
“No caste certificates had been issued. The state was following a flawed policy in which they were taking the income of the entire family to give OBC certificates,” Ahir stated. “This made several people ineligible for non-creamy layer OBC certificate,” he acknowledged.
NCBC has additionally directed the AAP authorities in Punjab to extend OBC reservations from 12% to 25%. The Economic Times reported {that a} whole of 37% reservation (25% for Scheduled Castes and 12% for OBC) was allotted within the State.
Since the higher restrict of the reservation is 50%, the Commission has directed the Punjab authorities to extend the OBC quota by a further 13%.
Similarly, the JDU-RJD-ruled State of Bihar was confronted with related anomalies when it got here to the implementation of reservation norms. NCBC discovered that the Bihar authorities was together with the agricultural earnings of Class III and Class IV workers for calculating whole earnings.
As such, they got non-creamy layer OBC certificates. The observe had been prevalent within the State for a span of 30 years (1993-2003). The Commission has requested the State authorities to make amends.
