NEW DELHI: The controversy about alleged misrepresentation of ‘non-creamy layer’ certificate by trainee IAS Pooja Khedkar has cast a cloud over the ‘
OBC creamy layer
’ criteria and its implementation. But the irony is that genuine backward aspirants are getting a rough deal and desperately hoping that the new BJP govt will finally wake up to the long pending
revision
of ‘creamy layer’ for Mandal reservations.
The increase in ‘
income ceiling
’ for 27% OBC quotas is pending for seven years, which has made it twice overdue for a hike. It is supposed to be revised every three years to adjust for inflation. The ‘creamy layer’, last revised from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh in 2017, is the group of backwards who are categorised as well-off among the OBCs and thus ineligible for job and education quotas.
All India OBC Employees Federation general secretary G Karunanidhy said during the seven years, the Union govt has revised the salary structure of its employees and increased their dearness allowance (DA) from 24% to 46% till July 2023, and ignoring these indexes for income ceiling for
reservation
is unjustified. “The new central govt has settled in. We demand immediate revision of income ceiling for creamy layer to Rs 15 lakh,” he said.
When the income ceiling was due for an increase in 2020, the Union social justice ministry moved a cabinet proposal recommending it be hiked from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 12 lakh, but added a separate point to redefine the ‘income criteria’ for the ‘creamy layer’. As laid down by the post-Mandal 1993 office memorandum, ‘income’ does not include ‘salary’ and ‘agricultural earnings’, but govt proposed that in future ‘salary’ be included in calculating ‘income’.
The proposal ran into resistance from the National Commission for Backward Classes and senior OBC leaders of BJP, who argued that inclusion of ‘salary’ in calculating the ‘creamy layer’ would make it easier for a backward to be considered better-off. A surprised Modi govt was forced to put the proposal in cold storage.
The deadlock dragged on for three years and in Sept 2023, the revision became due again. Meanwhile, the social justice minister told the Lok Sabha on Feb 7, 2023, that there was no proposal for revision “since the existing income limit is considered sufficient”, triggering outrage among the backwards.
Now, with two hikes overdue, social justice activists like Karunanidhy, who have sent several letters to govt, complain it has become much easier for an OBC to be weeded out of eligibility for reservations because Rs 8 lakh is too low a ceiling in 2024, seven years after it was determined.
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