Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday, urged for providing reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the field of public employment and educational institutions and for Socio Economic Backward Classes (SEBCs) in educational institutions in the State.
Pradhan stated, “I would like to reiterate my arguments for the necessity affirmative action in favour of State’s OBC and SEBC population. As you are aware, OBCs and SEBCs constitute a considerable portion of the total population in Odisha, who have been historically deprived of opportunities in the field of education and employment thereby scuttling the socio-economic development of these disadvantaged communities.” He stated in view of the 27 per cent reservations for Backward Classes enacted by Government of India, significant reservations over and above this percentage have been enacted in States like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The indecision and delay displayed by the Odisha Government in taking affirmative action for OBCs and SEBCs is a glaring disservice to the spirit of balancing scales of socio-economic development in the State, Pradhan added.