As the Government attempts to tread cautiously through the caste conundrum amidst increasing demands for reservations among affluent communities, the National Commission for the Backward Classes has passed a resolution seeking quotas in the private sector for the socially and educationally disadvantaged communities.
Only Haryana State Commission, which has its own system of quotas, filed a dissenting note.
Quota agitation by Patels in Gujarat and Jats in Haryana over the last one year have taken a violent turn. Such demands have also been gaining traction among other dominant communities like Marathas in Maharashtra and Kapus in Andhra Pradesh.
The Commission in its resolution has also sought changes in the norms which determine the creamy layer or the well-offs among the OBCs. The creamy layer is not entitled to the benefits of reservations by a judgment of the Supreme Court which upheld OBC quota as a policy of positive discrimination in the Mandal Commission Case.
"I have apprised the Prime Minister and the PMO of these issues," said Justice E Eswaraiah, chairman of the commission.
But the most complex and sensitive of all the issues being raised by the commission is the growing chorus for making available the socio-economic caste census data.
The data has the potential to re-ignite reservation debate as the empirical figures may lead to fresh demands for a revision in quota allocations, with the most backward communities demanding sub categorisation, or quota within quota, in the OBC category.
In another interesting observation, NCBC chairman Justice Eswaraiah said that preliminary exams in any government services should only be considered as mere facilitator like any other relaxation - age or entrance fees - for a reserved category candidate.
The point was made in reference to the Civil Services topper Tina Dabi who despite seeking Haryana cadre was not allocated by the UPSC.
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