New Delhi: The Nationwide Fee for Backward Lessons (NCBC) is inquiring into alleged irregularities in West Bengal’s Different Backward Lessons (OBC) checklist on the again of complaints that Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh are cornering the advantages of reservation, the panel’s chairperson stated Thursday.
Addressing a press convention, NCBC chairperson Hansraj Gangaram Ahir stated that of the 179 OBC teams included within the state checklist, 118 have been from the Muslim group. “We now have received a number of complaints and took up the matter with the state authorities in our evaluate assembly throughout our state go to in February this yr,” he stated.
“We now have acquired a number of complaints stating that many from the Muslim group included within the checklist are immigrants from Bangladesh. We’re investigating the matter, as this has been executed by depriving precise beneficiaries. We now have sought an in depth response from the state authorities.”
West Bengal’s present reservation for OBCs stands at 17 per cent.
The state’s OBC checklist, Ahir stated, is split in two classes: Most Backward Class (Class A) and Backward Class (Class B). He added, “Within the Most Backward Class class, there are a complete of 81 communities, of which 73 are Muslim and eight are Hindu. In Class B, there 98 communities in whole, of which 45 belong to the Muslim group and relaxation to the Hindu group. We aren’t towards Muslims getting the good thing about reservation, however such irregularity can’t be accepted.”
ThePrint reached West Bengal’s Minister of State for Backward Lessons Welfare, Bulu Chik Baraik, and the division’s secretary, Sanjay Bansal, for his or her response by cellphone, e-mail, and textual content messages. This report shall be up to date when a response is acquired.
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Non-adherence to OBC reservation coverage
In accordance the NCBC, West Bengal depends on experiences by the Cultural Analysis Institute in Kolkata — which comes underneath the state authorities — whereas together with communities within the state’s OBC checklist.
Ahir stated that the fee had held two conferences with state authorities officers — the primary throughout a go to to Bengal in February this yr and the second final month. The panel highlighted the difficulty in the course of the February assembly, he stated.
“They initially instructed us that these folks have been earlier Hindu and later transformed to Islam. However after we requested for proof, the federal government, in a written response, stated that they’ll’t show it,” Ahir, who took cost of the fee in December final yr, stated.
Ahir, a former Union minister, claimed he had reviewed OBC-related issues with 12 state governments and that many states — particularly Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab and West Bengal — weren’t adhering to the reservation coverage whereas recruiting for presidency jobs.
“There are seven districts in Rajasthan the place OBC reservation is zero regardless of a sizeable inhabitants dwelling there. After we raised the matter with the state authorities, OBC certificates have been issued. There have been different points that aren’t being addressed,” he stated, including that the fee has acquired proposals from Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Telangana for a number of communities to be included within the central lists and had initiated the method to take the proposals ahead.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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