Bhubaneswar: The State Government has asked Collectors and Municipal Commissioners to resume the survey for enumeration of other backward classes (OBCs) in the State and complete it by July second week.
Member Secretary of Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes (OSCBC), Vir Vikram Yadav has recently written a letter to all Collectors and Commissioners of Municipal Corporations, in this regard.
“The Government of Odisha has been pleased to accept the proposal of the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes (OSCBC) to resume the survey of the social and educational conditions of the people belonging to backward classes in Odisha,” Shri Yadav said.
Various activities under the survey shall be carried out as per the revised schedule, he said.
The Collectors and Commissioners of Municipal Corporations will be in overall charge of the survey and hence they have been asked to personally monitor different survey activities for its timely completion.
“District survey management plan containing district profile, information on survey centres, enumerators, supervisors and other survey related officers along with their deployment should be prepared and sent to the Commission by the first week of March, 2023,” he stated.
The Collectors and Commissioners have been asked to ensure that the detailed action points are carried out promptly to avoid any dislocation in the survey process.
They have been directed to ensure that enumerators and supervisors retiring by July 31, 2023, are not deployed for the survey. It has also been instructed to identify the venue for training and arrange logistics.
The Collectors have been further asked to make provisions of adequate number of vehicles for the surveys.
The Odisha Government had requested the Government of India to insert appropriate columns in the Census Format 2021 to get a clear picture regarding the socio-economic and educational status of Socially Educationally Backward Classes, OBC and other classes. However, the Centre rejected the request of the state.
Following which, the State Government has set up the Commission to conduct enumeration of other backward classes (OBCs) in the state. However, the survey work was halted due to Covid-19 pandemic.
As per available data, OBCs constitute more than 50% of the State’s population followed by tribals (22.85%), SC (22.85%), upper caste (6%), Muslims 2.17% and others 2%.