OBC groups say Centre’s rationale for not using OBC lists in caste Census is ‘fundamentally flawed’
OBC advocacy groups are challenging the Union government's decision to exclude OBC lists from the 2027 caste census. They argue that the government's distinction between 'class' and 'caste' is a flawed justification to avoid accurate population enumeration.
Why it matters
The debate over caste enumeration is central to Indian politics, as it directly impacts reservation policies and social welfare resource allocation.
The argument that Other Backward Classes (OBC) lists cannot be used for caste enumeration because they list “classes, not castes” is “fundamentally flawed”, associations representing the interests of OBC communities said on Friday (September 4, 2026), a day after The Hindu reported that this was part of the rationale for the Union government to not draw caste names and codify them from the readily available Central and State OBC lists for the caste enumeration component of the 2027 Census.
The OBC groups have said that if existing OBC lists were inadequate or had inconsistencies for the purpose of caste enumeration, the government should ideally use experts to draw and rationalise the caste names from these lists and not “drop them altogether”.
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