Parliament Question: Report of NITI Aayog 2014-15

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4536 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.08.2025 REPORT OF NITI AAYOG 2014-15 †4536. SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

(a) whether as per the 2014-15 report of NITI Aayog, 70 per cent of OBC population lives in rural areas as a result of which many seats reserved for OBCs in important educational institutions could not be filled up due to non-availability of deserving candidates and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether as per the said report, a number of vacancies reserved for OBCs in public services could not be filled up due to non-availability of candidates with adequate educational qualifications and if so, the details thereof; and

(c) whether as per 2014-15 report of NITI Aayog, the educational status of and OBCs is not better than that of mainstream communities and if so, whether the Government proposes to initiate a special action plan on the lines of SC and ST sub-plan for socio- educational and economic empowerment of OBCs? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

(a) & (c) The statement in the quoted report pertains to period 10 years ago. There has been a large improvement in the enrolment of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in higher education institutions. As per the data available from the All India Survey on Higher Education

(AISHE), the enrolment of OBCs has increased continuously.

Year 2016-17 2018-19 2020-21 2021-22 OBC 1,22,99,309 1,35,91,994 1,48,21,537 1,63,36,460 enrolment Page 1 of 3No proposal is under consideration. However, the Government has taken several initiatives for social, educational and economic empowerment of the OBC community, through the following schemes.

i. In the matter of direct recruitment to Central Government jobs and in admission to Central Government educational institutions, 27% reservation is available to the OBCs. ii. Pre-Matric Scholarship for OBCs - for students of classes I to X.

iii. Post-Matric Scholarship for OBC students - for students of classes XI and XII. iv. Scholarships for Higher Education for Young Achievers Scheme (SHREYAS) (OBC & Others) v. PM Young Achievers Scholarship Award Scheme for Vibrant India (PM-YASASVI) vi. National Fellowship for OBCs vii. Construction of Hostels for OBC Boys and Girls viii. Assistance for Skill Development of OBCs/DNTs/EBCs ix. Launch of Venture Capital Fund for OBCs.

x. Low Interest Loan/Finance Assistance Schemes of National Backward Classes Finance & Development Corporation (NBCFDC) for OBCs.

(b) The statement in the quoted report pertains to period 10 years ago. Occurrence and filling of vacancies, including the backlog reserved vacancies, is a continuous process. Instructions have been issued to all Ministries/Departments of the Central Government by the Department of Personnel and Training to constitute an in-house committee for identification of backlog reserved vacancies, to study the root cause of such vacancies, to initiate measures to remove the factors causing such vacancies and to fill them up including through special recruitment drives. As per the data furnished by the Ministries/Departments, more than 4 lakh backlog reserved vacancies, including 1.55 lakh backlog reserved vacancies of OBCs, have been filled up since 2016. Further, the representation of OBCs in direct recruitment made by the Government has also consistently been more than 27% during the last 10 years.

In addition to the above schemes, the Government has been implementing several schemes where saturation approach has been adopted, which also benefits OBC communities. These include the Har Ghar Jal Yojana, PM Awas Yojana, Mission Indradhanush, PM Ujjwala Yojana, PM Jan Arogya Yojana, PM SVANidhi, PM Matru Vandana Yojana, PM Page 2 of 3Vishvakarma Yojana, PM Mudra Yojana, PM Poshan Yojana and Kisan Credit Cards Scheme, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana– National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), Deen Dayal Upadhayay – Gramin Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS), PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna, etc.

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