Salman Khurshid makes pitch for sub-categorisation of OBCs

At a time when Congress is making a serious bid to rope in people from the backward Muslim community in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Law Minister Salman Khurshid has made a strong pitch for sub-categorisation of the Other Backward Classes.

"Government is within its legitimate rights to make sub-categorisation among the OBCs, which would lead to more equitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes/communities included in the broad category of OBC," the minister said.

In an article in the latest issue of the party's official mouthpiece 'Congress Sandesh', Khurshid quoted extensively from reports of Sachar Commission, Rangnath Mishra Commission and the famous Supreme Court judgement in the Indira Sawhney and others versus Union of India and others to hammer home his point.

Apparently to buttress the point that the talk about sub-castes among OBC is not something new, the Union minister has pointed out that while 30 states and Union Territories have their own list of OBCs in the state list, nine states have sub-categories in the state list of OBCs.

Citing the findings of Sachar Committee that went into the issue of the socio-economic backwardness of Muslims, Khurshid says in the statement, "Sachar Committee also had recommended for affirmative action for Muslims in India through separate reservation."

Khurshid said although the backward sections of minority population were included in the central list of OBC, there has been a growing demand over the last two decades that a separate quota was required for the minorities given the fact that major sections of minorities are most backward in the country.