Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s newly constituted Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) has initiated district-wise data collection to assess the political representation of the communities in local self-government institutions ahead of the panchayat and urban local body elections scheduled for early next year, an official said Friday.
The commission has asked the ST & SC Development, Minority and Backward Classes Welfare Department to coordinate with district collectors and ensure collection and submission of the required information in prescribed formats.
The department has been asked to submit the consolidated data to the commission at the earliest, preferably within 45 days, to facilitate its examination and further action, the official said.
The state government had announced the formation of a dedicated SEBC commission last month to assess the population share and political representation of the communities in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). SEBCs are referred to as Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in several other states.
The commission is headed by retired Orissa High Court judge Pramath Patnaik.
Retired bureaucrat Bijay Kumar Prusty has been appointed as a member, while Soojata Misra, special secretary in the ST & SC Development, Minority and Backward Classes Welfare Department, is its member secretary.
The initiative is aimed at ensuring equitable representation of SEBCs in local self-government institutions in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court, the official said.
The commission has been tasked with examining the representation of SEBCs in local bodies and assessing the need for proportionate reservation to ensure their effective participation in grassroots democratic institutions.
Since its constitution, the commission has held several meetings to deliberate on issues relating to SEBC representation and finalise the methodology for the assessment, the official said.
During these deliberations, it emphasised the need for comprehensive information and district-wise data to ascertain the actual representation of SEBCs in local self-government institutions.
Accordingly, it decided to collect data on SEBC members elected under the unreserved (UR) category in PRIs and ULBs across the state, he said.
The data will help the commission undertake an evidence-based assessment of the actual political representation of SEBCs in local bodies and examine the matter further in accordance with constitutional and legal provisions.
