New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that there is “no proposal” for revision of the income limit for determining the Non-Creamy layer among Other Backward Class (OBC).
Non-Creamy layer is a term used in India to refer to those within the OBCs with an annual household income of less than Rs 8 lakh. Such OBCs are entitled to avail reservation benefits in government jobs and higher educational institutions.
OBC families where the annual income of both parents is Rs 8 lakh or more are referred to as the Creamy Layer and are excluded from reservation benefits. The OBCs belonging to the Creamy Layer are considered socially, politically and economically more advanced as compared to those under the Non-Creamy Layer category.
In a response to a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP and Janata Dal (United) leader Ram Nath Thakur Wednesday in Parliament, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik said: “At present, there is no proposal for revision of the OBC Non-Creamy layer limit”.
The current income ceiling for those belonging to Creamy Layer is Rs 8 lakh or more.
The income criterion for the creamy layer is revised every three years to adjust inflation — a practice that was recommended by the Justice Ram Nandan Committee, a panel entrusted with identifying the creamy layer among OBCs.
The ceiling was last revised in September 2017, when the annual income was increased to Rs 8 lakh from Rs 6 lakh. Though it was to be revised again in 2020 and then again this year, it did not happen.
In 2020, the Modi government had recommended raising the income ceiling for the creamy layer of OBCs from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 12 lakh/annum along with trying to redefine the income criteria for the creamy layer. It had further recommended that all taxable income — including salaries — should be counted.
However, this proposal was put on the back burner after Opposition from some quarters over including salary.
In 1992, the recommendations of the Mandal Commission, constituted in 1979 to identify the socially or educationally backward classes, were implemented to give OBCs 27 percent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. The concept of ‘creamy layer’ — to determine the threshold of reservation eligibility within the 27 per cent quota — was also introduced.
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‘Creamy layer should be done away with’
OBC outfits have been lobbying to have the policy of creamy layer done away with.
“We are against the concept of creamy layer,” Dharmendra Singh Kushwaha, member of the core committee of OBC Mahasabha, told ThePrint. “Lakhs of people are not able to get the benefit of reservation due to this.
G. Kiran Kumar, the national president of All India OBC Students’ Association, believes that the policy of creamy layer shouldn’t be enforced “until 27 percent reservation for OBCs is achieved”. According to him, despite the 27 percent reservation policy for OBCs, several reserved posts remain vacant.
“In government jobs, the 27 percent reservation for OBCs has not been achieved even after so many years. The creamy layer limit shouldn’t be there so that the reserved posts can be filled up by people belonging to the OBC category,” he told ThePrint.
Both Kushwaha and Kumar said that the central government has maintained silence on demand for revising the income ceiling for the creamy layer.
“This limit is unjustified and should be done away with,” Kumar, quoted above, told ThePrint.
This is an updated version of the story.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)