With Job Crisis Among Key Voters (OBCs), Government Preps New Rules

Kharsatiya Village, Uttar Pradesh: Ahead of the strategically crucial Uttar Pradesh election, the government is prepping to update affirmative action policies to address the job crisis confronted by Other Backward Classes or OBCs.

"The ministry is considering a proposal from the National Commission for Backward Classes and will announce the new creamy layer or cut-off level within a couple of months," said Thaawar Chand Gehlot, the Social Justice Minister, to NDTV.

Uttar Pradesh has to vote no later than March. Backward classes are the dominant force in virtually all of the 403 constituencies.

22.5% of government jobs and places in state-funded educational institutions are allocated to the 'Scheduled Castes' -- mostly former untouchables -- and tribal groups.

In 1993, the Supreme Court set aside a further 27 percent of government jobs for other lower and disadvantaged castes, known as "Other Backward Classes" (OBCs). But the court also provided a rider - that those who cross an annual income benchmark will be considered part of "a creamy layer" and will not qualify for affirmative action policies.

The Supreme Court said that the creamy layer must be reviewed by the government every three years; but in the last two decades, it has been revised only thrice, most recently in 2011, when it was set at an annual income of six lakhs.

The National Commission for Backward Classes has repeatedly recommended a higher cut off, but each time, the government in charge has whittled it down. The challenge is in protecting those who historically lacked advantages, while also ensuring that castes that were traditionally powerful, but are now economically backward, are not left out of growth.

In its last report given to the government in 2015, the commission urged for the cut-off to be hiked to 15 lakhs.

Over the last few decades, castes like the Kurmis and Yadavs have become economically and politically dominant. Most of the graduates among other backward castes belong to these sections - and they have crossed over to the creamy layer, which means they cannot get government jobs.

On the other hand, the poorer castes cannot afford higher education for their children, which means they don't qualify for government jobs either. As a result, just 12 per cent of the available 27 per cent quota has been allotted to those entitled to it.

"The government, in 2014, in parliament admitted that the representation of OBCs in government jobs, nearly 20 years after the Supreme Court ordered a 27 per cent quota for them, is merely 12 per cent," says SK Kharventhan, member of the National Commission for Backward Classes.

In a small village in the Barabanki district of central Uttar Pradesh, a group of young men are seated in a courtyard where the panchayat or governing council meets. Rahul Yadav, who graduated from college four years ago, tried to get a government job. But because his father earns more than 7 lakhs a year, he didn't make the cut, despite belonging to an Other Backward Class or OBC. He settled for being a farm worker.

"The creamy layer mark has to be raised to 8-10 lakh rupees, otherwise the most qualified backwards will not be able to get government jobs," he said.

If the creamy layer base line is moved up to November, as expected, the government could surge in popularity among lower castes but the move could alienate upper castes who have traditionally supported the BJP.

Sources say this is why the government could set the limit far lower than the 15 lakhs recommended by the commission.