Full Form of OBC
Other Backward Class
OBC Full Form is Other Backward Class. OBC refers to a term employed by the Indian Government for the purpose of classification of castes that are socially and educationally disadvantaged. OBC is part of the official classifications of the Indian population, along with the Scheduled Castes (abbreviated as SC) and Scheduled Tribes (abbreviated as ST). The OBCs reportedly form 52 percent of the country’s population as per the Mandal Commission. The National Sample Survey Organization (abbreviated as NSSO) reported that the figure dwindled to 41 percent in the year 2006.
The Indian Constitution acknowledges OBCs as those who belong to educationally and socially backward classes and it is obligatory on the Government of India to ensure their educational and social development such as in the form of 27 percent reservations given in higher education and public sector employment. The list of OBCs that the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment maintains is dynamic in which castes and communities are removed and added according to the economic, social, and educational factors. An RTI query showed that in the year 2015 despite the provision of reservation, only 12 percent of OBCs were employed under it.
As of the year 2015, it was unearthed that many educational institutes were not adequately utilizing funds provided for OBC student reservation policy and instead are channelizing them in infrastructural works. Until the year 1985, the matters concerning OBCs were dealt with by the Backward Classes Cell functional under the Ministry of Home Affairs, however, with the establishment of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the matters were shifted to the latter’s domain. There are welfare institutions set up for the OBCs under the Government of India.