Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

03-December-2014 13:46 IST

OBCs in Government Services

As per information received from various Ministries/ Departments till date, the representation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), as on 01.01.2013, in 69 Central Government Ministries/Departments was 5,23,721 which is 17.74% of 29,52,080 employees.

The reasons for lower representation of Other Backward Classes in services are identified as under-:

(i) Reservation for Other Backward Classes started only from the year 1993.

(ii) Other Backward Classes candidates who were appointed up to 1993, that is before introduction of reservation for the Other Backward Classes, are not included for counting the representation.

(iii) There is generally a time gap between occurrence of vacancies and filling thereof as recruitment is a time consuming process.

(iv) Some reserved posts for Other Backward Classes remain vacant due to non-availability of suitable candidates of reserved category.

(v) Some of the selected Other Backward Classes candidates do not join the service or leave the service after joining because they get better opportunities elsewhere.

Reservation in Central Government jobs for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes employees is provided at the rate of 27%, 15% and 7.5%, respectively. As per information received till date from 69 Ministries/ Departments, the representation of Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as on 01.01.2013, was 17.74%, 17.57% and 7.73%, respectively.

Instructions have been issued  in June, 2013 to all concerned to make concerted efforts to fill up the backlog reserved vacancies. A committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to analyse the reasons for less employability of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes in Government sector and to suggest remedial measures. Keeping in view the recommendations of the Committee, various time bound measures have been identified and intimated to concerned Ministries/Departments to fill up such backlog vacancies.

This was stated by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to Kumari Shobha Karandlaje in the Lok Sabha today.