OBC Reservation Bill Passed By Lok Sabha, Now States Will Be Able To Prepare List Of Castes

New Delhi, 10th August 2021: The Lok Sabha has approved a bill empowering state governments to prepare a list of castes for other backward class (OBC) reservations. The Lok Sabha has passed the bill by 386 votes, while there was no vote against it. Under the Bill brought for the 127th Amendment to the Constitution, the states will get the power to prepare the list for OBC reservation according to their own.

Now this bill will be introduced in Rajya Sabha for approval. After that and the President’s signature, it will be implemented as law across the country. With this new law, many states including Maharashtra will get an opportunity to include castes at the local level in the list of OBC reservations. Recently, the Maratha reservation was cancelled by the Supreme Court. After this, the decision has been taken.

During the debate on this bill, many parties including Congress have also demanded the central government to conduct a caste-based census. Apart from this, there has also been a demand to increase the reservation limit to more than 50 per cent. Several leaders including Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi have made this demand.

Akhilesh Yadav said that it is the need of the hour that a caste-based census should be conducted. If you do not do this, then after forming the Samajwadi government in UP, we will do so, he said.

Not only this, JDU, which is supporting BJP at the Center and Bihar, has also demanded a caste-wise census. JDU MP Rajeev Ranjan Singh reiterated this demand in Parliament. Earlier, JDU chief and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar have also made such a demand many times.