There are no specific data about the number of people belonging to the Socially and Educationally Backward (SEBC) category with the State Government.
This was informed by ST&SC Development Minister lalbihari Himirika in response to a query by BJP member Dilip Ray in the State Assembly on Friday.
According to Ray, his query was regarding the number of women and men included in the SEBC category in the State and whether a census has been conducted.
The Minister’s silence on the issue made it clear that the Government has no data of the people belonging to SEBC category, said Ray.
“According to the 2011 Census Report, there are 95.90,756 lakh people including 47.27,732 lakh men and 48.63,024 lakh under Schedule Tribe (ST) category in the State. Similarly, a total of 71.88,463 Schedule Caste category people are residing in the State out of which 36.17,808 are men and 35.70,655 are female,” Himirika said.
However, no caste-based estimation has been made in a specific manner for the SEBC category in the 2011 Census, added the Minister.
“The Centre has reserved 7.5 per cent seats in Central Government jobs for the ST, 15 per cent for SC and 27 per cent for OBC. Although the percentage of reservation for SEBC people was kept at 27 for recruitment in the State as per the 2008 SEBC Act, the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) has cancelled the reservation on the basis of the Supreme Court directive to confine the reservation percentage to 50 per cent for all the classes (SC, ST and OBC).
Challenging the order, the State Government moved the High Court. The percentage of reservation for this category has fallen to 11.5 per cent for the SEBC following the HC verdict,” he said.
Reacting to the statement, Ray said the Government should have recorded the quantifiable data before clearing the SEBC Act.“The data should have contained the number of population and representation of this class in the government jobs. While the Act was recommended to be placed in the ninth schedule of the constitution, the Government itself has cleared the path for removing the law by executing it in a hasty manner”, said Ray.