Centre includes 15 new casts in Central OBC list

New Delhi: The central government on Wednesday gave nod to inclusion of 15 new castes in the Central OBC list. They also made amendments in 13 other casts in the Central list of Other backward Castes (OBCs).

The amendments were approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Earlier, the National Commission of Backward Classes (NCBC) had proposed a total of 28 changes in respect of 8 states that include Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

Among the 28 recommendations, 15 were new additions, 9 were synonyms or sub-castes of the castes that already exist in the list and 4 were corrections.

"The changes will enable the persons belonging to these castes/communities to avail the benefits of reservation in Government services and posts as well as in Central Educational Institutions as per the existing policy," according to an official statement.

This will also make people of these casts eligible to enjoy benefits of various welfare schemes which are being administered by the Central Government, it added.

On NCBC's proposal, a total of 2,479 entries for inclusion, also comprising its synonyms, sub-castes, etc. in the Central List of OBCs, have been notified in 25 States and 6 Union Territories. Till September, 2016, the last such notification was issued.

NCBC is the organisation that examines requests for addition of any class of citizens in the backward class lists and also hears complaints of over-inclusion or under-inclusion of any backward class in such lists. Its recommendations bind upon the central government.

The Centre, however, is already mulling on relaxing the creamy layer norms for the OBC.