Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh Thursday said to provide benefits of various welfare schemes to the maximum
number of people belonging to OBC category, his Government had increased the income limit of creamy layer from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh per annum. Presiding over a meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Other Backward Classes (OBC) Welfare Board here, Singh said as per 2001 census the state's OBC population was 9,27,542 — 15.27 per cent of the total population.
He said, in order to provide proper representation to OBCs in Government jobs, reservation of 12 per cent for Class-I and II categories and 18 per cent for Class-III and IV had been provided. He said the inclusion of more sub-castes in OBC group was being considered by the Central Backward Category Commission. On the monkey menace, the CM laid stress on the need of planting fruit bearing species in forests so that monkeys did not forage for food.