OBC appointments in jobs above 27% during 2014-21: Centre to Rajya Sabha

The representation of the other backward classes (OBC) in a total number of government appointments through direct recruitment has been consistently above 27 per cent from 2014 to 2021, the Minster of the state for Social Justice and Empowerment A Narayanaswamy told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

He further said that the enrollment of OBCs in higher educational institutions (HEI) has also been increasing during this period.

According to the data released by the ministry on the representation of the scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST) and OBCs in government positions, the representation of SC in the total number of government appointments made through direct recruitment and promotion in 2014 was 17.97 per cent, for ST it was 8.26 per cent and for OBC it was 31.50 per cent.

However, the percentage of representation went down to 17.07 per cent for SC, 7.57 per cent for ST and 30.68 per cent for OBC in 2021.

The data on government positions has been collated from information uploaded by different ministries and departments on the Representation of Reserved Categories in Posts and Services (RRCPS) portal.

As per the ministry, in HEIs, there has been an increase in the number of enrollments from all reserved categories.

"In 2014-15, around 46.06 lakh students from SC, 16.4 lakh from ST and 112.5 lakh students from OBC were enrolled in universities, colleges and standalone institutions. In 2020-21, around 28 per cent increase in HEI enrollment was recorded in SC, 47 per cent in ST and 31.7 per cent increase in OBC," the minister also said in the House.