The Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha will submit its report on the National Commission for Backward Classes in the first week of Monsoon session of Parliament.

According to sources, a consensus has been reached with all parties, and the Bill will be passed in the Upper House in upcoming monsoon session. A Bill to accord constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, popularly known as Other Backward Classes (OBC) Commission, was referred to the Select Committee of the Upper House of the Parliament after the Opposition on 11 April blocked its consideration in the Rajya Sabha and insisted that it be sent to the Select Committee for proper scrutiny.

The Bill was passed with a huge majority in the Lok Sabha on 10 April. The OBC Parliamentary Committee made a recommendation in this regard. MPs from all parties had personally requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to amend the Constitution in this regard. Once the Bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha, the OBC Commission will become as powerful as the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and National Commission for Schedule Tribes. Till date, the OBC Commission has simply been a legal body, whose job is to advise the government regarding the inclusion or removal of caste/community lists.

But from now on, this commission can effectively work towards the welfare and upliftment of people belonging to the socially and educationally backward classes. The proposed commission will hear the grievances of socially and educationally backward classes, a function discharged so far by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. It also seeks to insert a new Article 342A to provide that the President may, by public notification, specify the socially and educationally backward classes.

With inputs from ANI