Daily wagers to be included on OBC list

Our Correspondent

KULLU, JULY 18

Justice V Eswaraiah, Chairperson, National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) stated that those vulnerable groups, having similar occupation and low economic growth, would be included in the OBC list. Addressing the mediapersons here today, he said the NCBC would recommend inclusion of washermen, beggars, wanderers, rickshaw pullers, boatman and similar other daily wagers in the OBC list.

He stated that NCBC had also opposed the reservation to the Jat community and the apex court had held its considerations, despite the Central Government's acting contrary to their recommendations.

The Chairperson stated that even though the remote Malana village of this district was included in the OBC list since 2000, not even a single person in Malana was provided with the OBC certificate till date.

He said, “It was a failure on the part of repeated state governments and the district administration that the residents were not even aware about provision of OBC status.” While replying to a query he said that there was no mechanism of enforcement available with the NCBC to penalise the state governments for overlooking the welfare of the OBC.

He added that there were only 28 persons in SC category in the entire populace of around 1,900 in the Malana village, but the condition of all the people in terms of economic and social standards was the same and thus the NCBC would recommend inclusion of the village under ST category, as the facilities of road and electricity were not comparable to other tribal regions of Himachal.

He stated that during the public hearing to consider inclusion of Malana village in the national list of OBC, the villagers opposed the same, as they had achieved no benefit of being included in the state OBC list for the past over 15 years. He said that without any proper facilities of education and alternate source of livelihood, they were living in vulnerable conditions. He stated that the district administration had been advised to identify problems faced by the masses of the region and update the revenue records, which the residents alleged were lingered on one pretext or the other since years.

He added that with the inclusion of the Malana village in the national OBC list, the residents would be able to apply for central government and para-military jobs under the OBC quota. However, social activists here opined that with no mechanism existent to check or regulate the provision of welfare measures to the listed OBC category masses, the spate of Malana residents would remain more or less the same, till appropriate infrastructure of education and road connectivity is improved and alternate source of livelihood are developed. EOM

Abhinav Vashisht, Kullu.

Caption: National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) Chairperson Justice V Eswaraiah (c) during public hearing at Malana village in Kullu on Friday. Photo by Abhinav Vashisht

Caption: National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) Chairperson Justice V Eswaraiah (c) addressing mediapersons at Kullu on Friday. Photo by Abhinav Vashisht