14/04/08

creamy layer: how thick is it?

as a rule, individuals who belong to castes listed in the list of backward classes are socially, educationally and economically backward. the creamy layer is about the exceptions. i had to re-emphasize the, seemingly axiomatic, point that application of the 'creamy layer' is to eliminate individuals, and not castes, in my last post because there seems to be a strongly held belief among opponents of reservations that the creamy layer constitutes a substantial chunk among the backward classes, as a whole, and of individual castes. if any individual caste does have a substantial number of individuals, or a significant proportion of members, who belong to the creamy layer, the caste itself ceases to be a backward class because it'd no longer meet these criteria.

so, how thick do you think is this creamy layer? how many individuals, from the more than 2000 obc castes do you think could be excluded from reservations on the grounds of belonging to the creamy layer? take a guess.

how many obcs have held such constitutional posts as that of the president (there has been none), vice-president (can't think of any, at the moment), supreme court judges (this is amusing), etc ?

how many obcs do you think are class I or class II officers in central or state governments or psus?

how many obcs do you think hold such ranks as that of a colonel in the armed forces?

how many obcs do you think are doctors, lawyers and chartered accountants who make more than rs.2.5 lakhs a year?

and so on and on. how many aspirants from creamy layer families? or, this should be easier: how many creamy layer families? my own estimate is that around 0.5% of all obc families could be classified as belonging to the creamy layer. at best. so, what was the wailing and beating of chests all about?

but the question remains: is this the creamy layer that should be skimmed off?

6 comments:

faustus said...

hey dickhead!!!
do your math before posting stats like 0.5%
u think the majority of OBCs earn less than 20k per month as total family income?????
if u think no sizeable job category is covered under the exclusion clause please list at least 10 professions in urban india who can gain from OBC reservation.........

Unknown said...

Kuffir,

Yes, I too agree that this cannot reach more than 0.5 in many states.

Regarding the case of castes being removed from the list, Only the groups with less number are more susceptible to be chopped if they meet the criteria. Can this make any change to the overall allocation ?

Pratik . said...

0.5% is incorrect. Here is some data if you want to look (bear in mind, this is 2003 data):

http://mea.gov.in/parliament/ls/2003/03/05lmar2131.htm

total reservation candidates ~ 25%
OBCs ~ 3-4% of all jobs.

Assuming that 35% of the population is OBC (I am taking the figure quoted by NSSO, since I wouldnt like to believe the starkly inflated figures of 50% going round in pro-reservationist blogs or starkly shrunk figures of 20% in anti-reservationsit blogs), 4% of total translates to 11.5% of OBC.

i.e. 10% of OBC belong to creamy layers - I believe this number is large enough (especially considering the paucity of seats) to warrant exclusion of the creamy layer.

kuffir said...

pratik,

please check the page you're referring to again: it concerns the composition of one particular ministry . of around 2500 posts. do you have any idea as to how large the central government is?

'OBCs ~ 3-4% of all jobs.'

central govt jobs represent all jobs in the country? :)

and yes, the obc population. here's a press note relased by the govt of india a couple of years ago- please check:

http://mospi.gov.in/nsso_press_%20note_516.htm

the post-2003 figure is: 41%.

Pratik . said...

My apologies. I should have said that it was from MEA. And I posted it under the assumption that reservation rules in the central govt would be uniform across different ministries/organizations.

So, are you suggesting then, that different ministry have different reservations in jobs? That the central govt, in fact doesn't have a central uniform policy in job reservations?

41% --> If, for want of other data, the MEA figure of 3-4% is used, then it translates to 9% instead of 11% of OBCs belonging to creamy layer.

But hey, please do a favor. If you do get hold of the data on # of employees, then post the link in your blog. I am sure lot of people would be interested in that.

kuffir said...

pratik,

how does 3-4%, your estimate, of central govt jobs translate into 9% of 45 crores (41% of indian population)obcs?

 
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