the larger picture: the state's missing

Any OBC family with an annual income above Rs 2.5 lakh would be treated as part of the creamy layer. Families where the key bread-earner is either a doctor, engineer, lawyer, son of present or past MP and MLA or working in 11 equivalent professions will also be part of the creamy layer.

The verdict has set off a demand among regional parties that the creamy layer criteria be changed.

from what would perhaps be called an incisive news report in the telegraph (italics mine). if the reporter had bothered to check the creamy layer categories and criteria (read appendix x in this ncbc annual report) a little more carefully, he'd have realized that not all obc doctors, lawyers, engineers fall in the creamy layer category. nor do all past mps, mlas and others working in 11 equivalent positions- the income criteria would apply to every one of them.

it's not just the upper caste dominated academia that does shoddy work- the media overdoes it all the time. all their reporting/analysis of dalit/obc issues displays a poor grasp of facts, an unwholesome appetite for drama and a penchant for sweeping conclusions. is this how the reporter's mind worked? 1) obcs: largely undeserving, 2) hence, large creamy layer 3) therefore, large-scale discontent. how many obcs could the reporter have possibly met in such a large state (both in terms of population and size) as uttar pradesh, keeping in view that the deadlines on such issues are possibly shorter, to draw such a large picture?

here's a part of the larger picture of the obcs: according to the third census of the small scale industries in the country, 57 % of the unregistered 91, 46, 216 ssi units in india were managed by businessmen or entrepreneurs from the socially backward classes.

that little factoid, along with other information i've discussed in my earlier posts, should tell you a lot of things about the obcs- but i do hope you've noticed one significant feature that characterizes their existence: i refer to their relationship with the state. it's very tenuous. the state would like to ignore them, mostly, and they'd like to keep away from it, mostly.

and another feature that i'd also like to point out: agriculture is not the whole of their culture.