Cong OBC panel passes 'Bengaluru Declaration'

The Congress' OBC Advisory Council on Wednesday adopted a "Bengaluru Declaration" on Wednesday with three major resolutions — launching a nationwide campaign for a caste census, scrapping the 50% cap on reservations in education, employment and politics, and extending reservation for Other Backward Classes in private educational institutions under Article 15(4) of the Constitution.

- Arun Dev

The resolutions were finalised on Wednesday at the first meeting of the Advisory Council of the Other Backward Classes Department of the All India Congress Committee, chaired by chief minister Siddaramaiah, in Bengaluru.

Former Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel said that the next meeting of the OBC Advisory Council will be held on July 25 in New Delhi.

One of the key resolutions demanded that the caste census be conducted by the registrar general and census commissioner of India. Siddaramaiah said the exercise must be detailed and based on the Telangana government's social, educational, employment, economic, political (SEEEP) caste survey.

"The census must cover every caste and individual's social, economic, educational, occupational, and political aspects. The SEEEP caste survey conducted in Telangana should be taken as a model for the national exercise," he said.

The declaration described the caste census as a tool for evidence-based policymaking. "The caste census advocated today is not merely a count of communities. It is a survey that must also document the social, economic and educational conditions of people," it said.