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One wonders how the Rohini Commission can complete such a complex exercise aimed at equitable redistribution of the OBC quota without countrywide consultations and detailed study of the multiple issues. The National Commission for Backward Classes had proposed that the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) carry out such an exercise, writes P.N. Sankaran

Anupriya Patel, minister of state in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, believes that she is still treading the path shown by her father, Sonelal Patel. SC, ST and OBC welfare remains a priority for her. Patel talks to Forward Press

The results of the caste census carried out in 2011 has not yet been made public. OBCs count only in politics. The former chairman of the National Backward Classes Commission makes these observations in an interview with Nawal Kishore Kumar

Speaking at the second National OBC Commission, he said the castes that constitute the OBCs are the indigenous inhabitants of India, but even 70 years after Independence, they are deprived of their due. He also sniped at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar

The second OBC convention will be held on 7 August at the Constitution Club, New Delhi under the auspices of the Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh. More than six union ministers are expected to attend and discuss a wide range of issues concerning the OBCs, including the demand for making the report of the caste census public

If the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill becomes law of the land without further amendments, the states will be deprived of their Constitutional rights and power to declare any class as socially and educationally backward within the state

OBCs should be given reservations on the same terms and conditions as SCs and STs. The rules should be uniform for all the three categories. OBCs should also get exemption from payment of examination fees and concessions in upper age limits just as SCs and STs do. Just as there is no provision of creamy layer for SC, STs, there should be none for OBCs