OBCs account for 38.5% of rural population

NEW DELHI: Subject to politically charged and conflicting claims, the mist over the percentage of OBCs in the population might have lifted a bit with an official survey revealing that backward castes account for around 38.5% of the rural populace.

Tamil Nadu tops the OBC chart with 54.37% of rural households belonging to backward category. Uttar Pradesh has 51.78% rural households in OBC bracket. It is 37% in the Mandal powerhouse of Bihar while Chhattisgarh may be seen as a surprise with 50.37% of households surveyed belonging to the OBC category.

While a national figure of 38.5% falls well short of the Mandal Commission���s estimate of 52%, they tally with an NSSO survey which pegged OBC population at around 35%. The findings are part of an exercise which scanned all rural households as part of BPL survey 2002 whose results have come in recently. The results are a dampener for torchbearers of backward politics who believe the OBC numbers are at least 50%.

Congress MP Hanumantha Rao, convener of the OBC parliamentary forum, said, ���We want a census. The OBC population is much higher than what this survey has revealed.��� He said while job and education quota was frozen at 50%, there was need to ���expose how OBC population was high but handful of upper castes were ruling the power structures���. The call for a caste census has the backing of OBC leaders like Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

Fifteen key states where backwards are a crucial socio-political factor have shown demographics on expected lines. An extrapolation from rural estimates which cover almost 72% of the country, for an entire state may dilute OBC share a bit as bulk of backwards are agrarian communities in the countryside.

The survey by rural development ministry gives a peep into OBC numbers after a protracted debate on what really is their proportion in population.

The 52% figure given by Mandal Commission has been doubted as it was based on an extrapolation from the last caste census of 1931, by eliminating non-OBC communities from total population. The issue blew up in the 14th Lok Sabha when a parliamentary committee questioned the rationale of allocation of funds for OBC welfare without knowing the group���s numbers. It called for a caste survey, kicking off a sharp duel among political players and government.