Dharmendra seeks OBC, SEBC reservation in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday reiterated his request for reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Government jobs and educational institutions, and for Socially Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in educational institutions in Odisha.

In a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Pradhan questioned the Odisha government’s move to pass a resolution seeking enumeration of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) alongside the upcoming general census in 2021.

He termed the move to pass the resolution as “a dilatory and dichotomous step trying to mask the extant policies of the State Government denying State-wide reservation for OBC and SEBC categories.”

Pradhan said OBCs and SEBCs constitute a considerable portion of the total population in Odisha.

 “Central Government has provided 27% reservation to OBCs in Government jobs as well as in educational institutions-a welfare measure upheld by the Hon’ ble Supreme Court.

However, even nearly thirty years of implementation of said reservations, it is difficult to decipher why Government of Odisha is not providing any such reservations to OBCs in public employment or in educational institutions and to SEBCs in educational institutions,” said the Union Minister.