Pradhan urges NCBC to add 14 Odisha SEBC groups to central OBC list

BHUBANESWAR: Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has written to National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) chairman Hansraj Ahir urging him to include 14 specific castes or communities currently in the Odisha State Backward Classes (SEBC) list in the central Other Backward Classes (OBC) list.Khandayat, Bayalisha, Oda, Oda Paik, Oda Paiko, Haladia Teli, and Rajashribalasi/Balasi castes in the central OBC list.”

“Many communities in the state SEBC list are not in the central OBC list. As a result, people of these communities are being deprived of availing the benefits of reservation in central government jobs, central educational and technical/professional institutions and various welfare schemes. Inclusion of these castes in the central OBC list will lead to their socio-economic development and be a crucial step in giving them their rights,” said Pradhan.The state government has been providing 11.25 per cent reservation to SEBCs in government jobs and higher education leaving medical, technical and other professional courses out of the reservation purview. As OBCs in the state constitute more than 50 per cent of the population, there has been a strong demand to increase the quota from 11.25 per cent to 27 per cent as implemented by the central government. In the absence of quantifiable data, the OBCs are unable to fight their cases in legal forums, activists said.

In a letter to Ahir, Pradhan, a strong votary of OBC rights, requested him to include Khandayat, Paik, Chasa Paik, Alia, Paikali, Kalingi Shudra Khandayat, Mahanayak Shudra