Where is 'creamy layer' among OBCs, asks Ram Gopal Yadav

Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav on Monday said there is "no creamy layer" among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and asked the government to remove the Rs 6,00,000 annual income ceiling for inclusion of OBC candidates in the reservation bracket.

"Why is there Rs six lakh annual income limit for the so-called 'creamy layer' among backward classes? Where is the creamy layer?" Yadav said while participating in a discussion on the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-third Amendment) Bill, 2017.

Yadav quoted a 2012 report of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) that said the OBCs have 15 per cent share in central government jobs. In Grade A jobs, their share is 7.8 per cent, Yadav said quoting the report.

He said the Rs 6 lakh income ceiling is depriving a large section of deserving OBC people of the benefits of reservation in government jobs and educational institutions and asked the government to remove the limit.

"If you become an MP, your children would never get the reservation even if you are penniless and starving, because you will be counted as among the creamy layer. Therefore, we say that this ceiling should be removed," he said.

The 'creamy layer' threshold was set at Rs 1 lakh and more annual income in 1993, and subsequently it was revised to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2004, Rs 4.5 lakh in 2008, and Rs 6 lakh in 2013.

In October 2015, the National Commission for Backward Classes recommended that for the OBCs an annual family income of up to Rs 15 lakh should not be considered as creamy layer.

Yadav added that to uplift the backward classes jobs alone would not help and "the society's mindset needs to be changed".

He cited examples of Eklavya and Karna from the Mahabharata who were denied their rightful place just because they came from lower class.

--IANS

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