BuzzBytes Jammu 02 March 2024:In a statement released today, Sunil Prajapati, the President of the BJP OBC Morcha, expressed deep concern regarding the working methodology of the Social Welfare Department. Prajapati specifically highlighted the department’s request to Deputy Commissioners (DCs) for the population data of the recently added 14 castes in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, with an extremely short deadline of one day.Prajapati criticized the department’s approach, deeming it unfavorable and suggestive of an attempt to divert responsibility. He pointed out that the Union Government had passed the J&K Reservation (Amendment) Bill 2023 during the winter session. Following this, a Gazette Notification was issued by the Government of India, specifying the change in nomenclature from Other Social Castes (OSC) to OBC, with the effective date of OBC reservation as December 26, 2023.However, Prajapati noted that the Social Welfare Department had not taken any action to determine the population of OBCs after the inclusion of the newly added 14 castes. The recent directive to DCs, asking for population data within a day, was deemed impractical as the DCs are not equipped to gather such data in such a short timeframe.In light of these concerns, Sunil Prajapati urged the Social Welfare Department to calculate the population data of the newly added castes based on the information available in the Census J&K 1931. Additionally, for castes/classes without data in Census 1931, Prajapati suggested a proportional calculation, similar to the method used for the existing 27 OBC castes in the past.Prajapati’s statement reflects the need for a more practical and systematic approach to ensure accurate and timely data collection for the OBC population in Jammu and Kashmir.
BJP OBC Morcha President Expresses Concern Over Social Welfare Department’s Approach to OBC Population Data
