The Modi Government is trying to scuttle reservation of OBC students in admissions at various centrally funded institutes. While trying to capitalise on the issue of the OBC identity electorally (2014 Lok Sabha Elections and 2016 state elections) it is, when it comes to representation of OBCs within universities, clearly indulging in doublespeak.
Besides the Modi government and the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), have also notified draconian unjustifiable office order of the University Grants Commission (UGC)- bearing F.No.59-6/2012 (CU)– dated June 3, 2016 — which stipulates central universities in India to implement OBC reservations in the recruitment of teachers only at the level of Assistant Professor. Interestingly, for the same faculty recruitment in IIT, OBC reservation is applicable for all the three levels: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor.
The Social Justice March scheduled to be held during the current session of Parliament has demanded a rollback of this unjustified office order issued by UGC.The Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have been subjected to multiple forms of marginalities, not least of being adequate representation in academic institutions. The United OBC Forum that has been constituted, is a socio-cultural platform of young students and aims to resolve the issue of non-representation/non-implementation of OBC reservation by various government educational institutions.
Parliament Debates on OBC Representation in Academia
On the crucial issue of vacancies in the OBC quota within educational institutions, Samajwadi Party(SP) member of Parliament, Dharmendra Yadav had squarely put the Modi government in the dock earlier this year.
[First Published on Mar 14, 2016: Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav commenting on HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s reply over reservation to OBCs in Central Universities]
In reply to his question, the government of India had provided figures to him that related to the number of OBCs within academia in the Central Universities. These are:
♦ In the Central Universities of the 2371 positions for the post of ‘Professors’ there is only one OBC
♦ In the Central Universities, of the 4708 positions for associate professors only 6 belong to the OBCs
♦ In the Central Universities, of the 9521 positions for assistant professors, only 1745 belong to the OBCs
The Mandal Recommendations are clearly not being followed. They said that 27 per cent reservations should be applied within the Central Universities as well.
It is within this backdrop that the United OBC Forum has organized Social Justice March to Parliament. Mobilization of people from different parts of India has taken place. This movement has got participation by the people from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
In the wake of preparation of the march, members of United OBC Forum have met leaders from different political parties and affiliations: Leaders like Mr. Sharad Yadav, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mr. Upendra Kushwaha, Mr. Tejasvi Yadav, Mr. V Hanumantha Rao have been lending support on this issue.