A Parliamentary panel has recommended amendments in Constitution to empower the National Commission for Backward Classes, observing that OBCs are still languishing behind other sections of society.
The Parliamentary Committee for welfare of Other Backward Class in its report on 'Measures for strengthening and giving constitutional status for the NCBC' has also noted that the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has not been able to discharge its duties for the OBCs.
"The committee is of the firm view that immediate action should be initiated for amending Indian Constitution and the NCBC Act appropriately for granting NCBC the constitutional status and conferring it with identical powers as given to the NCSC and the NCST," the committee mentioned in its report.
The report which was tabled in Parliament on Monday also said that the OBCs, "historically and presently continue to languish when compared to other sections of the society."
Since they (the OBCs) have lagged behind in their pursuit of education, they are often poorly represented in government jobs and white-collar occupations in general, it said, noting that immediate attention needs to be given to strengthen the existing safeguards and adopting new measures to promote their welfare.
"The Committee recommend that Article 338 (10) should be deleted and a new Article 338B should be inserted to for NBC. The constitutional amendment should also include existing powers of the NCBC under prevailing NCBC Act," it said.
On NSCS, it said, "The NCSC has not been able to discharge its functions pertaining to OBCs due to its preoccupation with the affairs of SCs which is evident from the fact that NCSC started taking cognisance of OBC complaints from 2011 only during this period merely dealt with 13 cases out of 172."
