Backward Class Leaders Press Centre for Comprehensive Social Justice Agenda

Hyderabad — Representatives from 20 backward class organisations have escalated their push for social justice reforms, meeting with political leadership to outline critical gaps in national policy frameworks.

The delegation, headed by former minister Boda Janardhan and BC Dal leader Dundra Kumaraswamy, convened with Kalvakuntla Kavitha in Hyderabad to present their concerns. The meeting prioritised three core issues: reservation policies, caste data collection, and female participation in governance structures.

The BC leaders emphasised the urgency of intensifying efforts at the Union level to resolve longstanding grievances affecting backward communities. They contended that existing policy measures fall short of addressing the scale and complexity of these challenges.

Caste data collection remains incomplete

A central complaint raised during the discussions concerns the exclusion of an OBC category from the current enumeration exercise. The delegation warned that without comprehensive and reliable caste data, government agencies cannot design effective welfare programmes or allocate resources appropriately.

The leaders noted that while Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have designated columns in the enumeration process, Other Backward Classes have been omitted from this digital data collection initiative. They characterised this oversight as a significant failure to ensure balanced demographic representation and called for accurate information as fundamental to sound policy-making.

Reservations and institutional reforms

On the reservation front, the delegation backed a 33 percent quota for women but emphasised the need for a separate allocation exclusively for OBC women within this broader framework.

The BC leaders also advocated for population-based reservation formulas and urged the government to enact a dedicated BC Reservation Bill. They further called for the establishment of a separate ministry tasked with welfare initiatives for backward communities.

The delegation proposed a "BC Protection Act" designed to strengthen legal safeguards for community rights, positioning such legislative measures as essential components of comprehensive social justice policy.

The concerns articulated by BC leaders underscore growing frustration over representation deficits and policy inconsistencies affecting backward communities at the national level.