Who are the Other Backward Classes? An Introduction to a Constitutional Puzzle,' Economic and Political Weekly 13 (43/44):1812-28 (Oct. 28, 1978)
Abstract
In view of the recent upsurge of interest in Other Backward Classes, it may be timely to reflect on how this term became a category for public policy in India and what its possible meaning is. The question 'of who were the Scheduled Castes was debated and roughly settled before Independence with the executive and without the participation of the courts. But who are the Backward Classes is a post-Independence question which the constitutional recognition of the category mixed one of all-India scope. The Constitution left the matter with the executive at the same level with an option for the Centre to unify It. When the executive at the Centre first failed and then declined to provide a resolution, the question reverted to the states. In the wake of the Janata victory in the 1977 elections, the Backward Classes returned to the national political agenda. Pursuant to its electoral promise, the Janata government appeared poised to appoint a new Backward Classes Commission, but had not done so by mid-1978. The UP and Bihar governments, under Janata control, enlarged substantially the preferences for Other Backward Classes, leading to mass violence in Bihar and political intervention by the Centre. During the hiatus of Central involvement, what the states did was increasingly subjected to the examination of the courts. It has been the Supreme Court rather than the Central government which has been the unifying and limiting influence and presumably any new Central policy will be shaped in the light of two decades of judicial predominance in this area.
