New Delhi, June 30
With the upper income limit for creamy layer within the OBCs all set to be doubled, the reservation debate is ready to get a new pitch. A formal recommendation in this regard will be made to the government tomorrow by the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), which is expected to recommend a raise from the existing Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
The NCBC was earlier entrusted with the task of inflation indexing of income criteria to exclude the socially advanced groups and sections (creamy layer) from the OBC list, a demand that was long pending.
It gained momentum in the wake of April 10 Supreme Court judgment which allowed 27 per cent reservation to OBCs minus the creamy layer in centrally-aided higher educational institutions.
Several of the Congress allies, including the Lok Janaskahti Party, the DMK, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Left, openly opposed the exclusion of the creamy layer and sought the government to find ways around the SC order.
The NCBC obviously worked under tremendous political pressure to accommodate as many OBCs as possible. Currently, those OBCs that fall in the creamy layer are not entitled to the benefit of reservation in educational institutions and government jobs.
The NCBC will submit its report to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment tomorrow, though the formal deadline expired today. The raise, sources say, will be double, possibly more, with most of the state backward classes commissions recommending massive raises.
The NCBC has, interestingly, left the magic figure for anyone to guess. Its final report does not yet make any mention of the enhanced income limit.
“We have prepared the report along with the backgrounder, the need for enhancement of the income limit, and justifications thereof. Estimates of the final figure have been prepared but they will be entered into the report only after the approval of the full commission tomorrow,” Laxmi Chand, member secretary of the commission, told The
Tribune.
The full commission will meet tomorrow at 1 pm to take a final view on the income limit. Later during the day, commission chairperson Justice S. Rathnaval Pandian will present the report to minister of social justice and empowerment Meira Kumar.
This will be the second major revision in the income criteria to determine creamy layer within the OBCs. The first such limit was fixed at 1 lakh in 1993. It was later revised to Rs 2.5 lakh four years ago. This time the hike is expected to be the maximum considering rising inflation and mounting political pressure ahead of the General Election.
