20 more castes in OBC list

Bhubaneswar: The state government has included 20 more castes in the list of socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs) recently, the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes (OSCBC) member Mitali Chinara said here on Thursday.
The OSCBC had recommended inclusion of these castes in the backward list. They were left out because of variation in spellings of names of their castes though they belong to the same category as those included earlier, she said. Official sources said the total number of category of communities under SEBC list remain unchanged at 210 as the new castes have been included in the state list of SEBCs by making their entries in castes similar to them.
For example, Badhei, Bindhani and Bindani were included in serial no. 4, which earlier had Baclhai, Barhai, Bindhania, Sutradhar, Badhira and Badhria. The 20 new castes have been included in nine existing categories.
The state government maintains a separate list of SEBCs for extending backward class quota in jobs, education and elections. In the central list of Other Backward Classes (OBC), the state has total 200 communities to avail benefits of reservation given by the Centre. Backward class leader and Samajwadi Party Odisha unit president Rabi Behera welcomed the inclusion of the new castes, saying it was a much-awaited move. With this, the commission should start the proposed survey to enumerate the backward classes which was postponed due to the pandemic, he said.
The OBC population in the state is estimated to be more than 50%. Though voting in Odisha has generally not been on caste lines, political parties always try to keep the dominant population in good humour. Odisha had to drop OBC quota in last year’s rural and urban local body elections in the absence of empirical data as mandated by the Supreme Court.
The state had decided to conduct OBC survey by the OSCBC in May 2021. It was, deferred due to the Covid situation. Though the situation has improved, the state is yet to come out with new date for the survey.