Odisha has become the second state after Bihar to conduct a survey to assess the socio-economic condition of Other Backward Castes (OBCs). However, the exercise that began on May 1 has triggered a political storm with opposition parties accusing chief minister Naveen Patnaik of playing the cast card ahead of the general elections in 2024.
They have questioned the timing of the survey which is taking place when major parties in the state are busy campaigning for the assembly by-poll in Jharsuguda. The next general elections are barely an year away.
Some opposition leaders have sought to know why the government instead of granting the OBCs their constitutional rights first has decided to carry out a survey whose results will be known much later. Others have questioned the manner in which the exercise is being conducted. They would like the government to conduct a door to door survey instead of asking OBCs to submit filled up forms containing a set of questions.
Such criticism, however, is completely unjustified as Patnaik government has undertaken the exercise only after its request to the Centre for a caste census failed to elicit a positive response. The state government is not only taking the trouble of conducting the survey using its own resources but it has also prepared a comprehensive questionnaire so that it gets a clear picture of the socio-economic status of OBCs and it can formulate policies for their welfare.
Being conducted by the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes in both online and offline modes the survey will cover OBCs residing in 314 blocks and 114 urban local body (ULB) areas of the state. It will cover a range of backwardness indicators including educational qualification, occupation, livelihood sources, access to hospitals and schools and the kind of houses the OBCs live in.
Thus, an honest attempt is being made to collect reliable data on the OBCs who account for 54 percent of Odisha’s population but enjoy only 11.25 percent reservation in government jobs which seems completely disproportionate to their overwhelming numbers. The government has not been able to raise this quota because of a cap of 50 percent on reservations mandated by courts.
Hence, a survey to assess the socio-economic condition of the OBCs had become necessary. The Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal has been demanding removal of 50 percent cap on reservation for quite some time. In 2021 the party had reiterated this demand along with the demand for caste-based census. However, nothing happened on this front. So the BJD government has finally decided to act on its own in the larger interest of the state’s vast OBC community. The opposition must support the government in its endeavor instead of trying to find faults with it.
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