The biggest challenge with most of the Extremely Backward Castes—whose votes political parties are eying on at the national and state levels—is that the occupations to which they are traditionally linked to are either facing extinction or their demand has decreased considerably in the last few decades. The onslaught of mechanization and entry of big business houses has rendered a large number of them unemployed.
If castes like Kahar (palanquin-bearer) or Nalband (horse-shoe maker) have completely lost their occupational relevance in this era of automobile, Kumhars or Prajapati (potter), Nai (barber), , badhi (carpenter) to name a few artisan and craftsman castes are finding it difficult to survive. The entry of the moneyed class has further reduced them to mere labour. While the use of earthen pots, pitchers and utensils has declined, reputed furniture manufacturing firms have shrunk the space for local carpenters. In the same way air-condition salons and parlours have made inroads into the business of road-side hair-cutters or those who would provide home service. The advent of trimmer and shaving-kit has also affected their business.
However, due to the Hindu ritual of tonsuring heads, barbers still have a special place in society. Thus, they are surviving though their income is not increasing. In the past, their help was sought to send marriage or other invitations as they used to know all the houses of villages/ localities.
Now there is no such scope.
Wild Life (Protection) Act, of 1972 was a significant step yet it badly affected Meer Shikari and other hunting groups engaged in this business. The campaign by animal rights activists has also affected their occupation as animals cannot be used for recreation. This is not an era of caged parrots.
Massive construction of bridges has left lakhs of Mallahs or Nishad’s boatmen across India without any work. The local boat building units too have got closed at many places. Similar is the fate of fishermen
communities as the big players have reduced their business opportunities. They have substantial presence in the coastal and riverine belts of the country.
Small in size
There are hundreds of such castes in the EBCs list in India—112 in Bihar alone. Barring a few, most of them are very small in number—some have a population of only a few lakhs in the entire country.
According to the Rohini Commission report there are 983 out of a total 2,633 backward castes who have not benefited by the existing reservation formula.
As they are too small and divided further into several sub-groups they have failed to emerge as a powerful political entity.
However, Bihar, which on October 2 became the first state to release the Caste Survey, had produced (now late) Karpoori Thakur as a prominent EBC leader. He became the Janata Party chief minister of state in the election held after the Emergency in 1977. He was from a numerically small Nai (barber) caste (1.59%). He was among the earliest pioneers of the sub-categorization formula, which his two disciples Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar have further advanced during their respective rules.
As per the latest Caste Survey, there are 30 Other Backward Castes in Bihar. They form 27.1% of the state population. The 112 EBCs have a population of 36.01%.
Bihar is one of the 10 states which had already adopted the sub-
categorization of backward castes as recommended by the Rohini Commission which completed its report on July 31 after six long years and 14 extensions. When it was constituted on October 2, 2017, it was asked to submit its report in 12 weeks.
How different from OBCs?
In contrast to the Extremely Backward Castes, the Other Backward Castes are relatively better off, and in most cases numerically strong too.
Koeri (also known as Kushwaha or Maurya), Kurmi, Yadav, Lodh, Jat, etc. are some of the land-owning-cum-cultivator backward castes of North and West India. They have their equivalent in the south and east as well. The name of Jat has, however, been struck down from the Central list by the Supreme Court. Yadavas and in some places Gujjars are also engaged in the cattle and milk business.
Following the abolition of Zamindari or landlordism many of these castes have emerged as influential farming communities. After the migration of upper castes from rural areas to urban pockets they have entered into the sharecropping business. The Operation Barga launched by the Left Front government in West Bengal in 1980s has also made them economically strong in the state.
So, the OBCs, unlike EBCs, got more opportunities to rise politically though the decline in farming income has created problems for many of them too.
Politically EBC may not be as strong in Bihar yet in recent years some of them have made their marks in different fields. Anand Kumar of Super-30 and Mukesh Sahni, Bollywood designer and son of Mallah fame, come from EBC groups. Sahni has now floated the Vikassheel Insan Party. A sizeable number of students qualifying for competitive exams successfully from Super 30 come from Extremely Backward Castes.
Patwatoli a locality in a suburb of Gaya town shot into fame after the students from here started cracking IITs and other premier competitive
exams.
Patwas are a weaving community. Indian opening batsman, Prithvi Pankaj Shah is a Patwa originally from Gaya, though he lives in Mumbai.
Rohini Commission Report
With the Lok Sabha election due in the middle of 2024 both the BJP-led NDA and INDIA are trying to woo the EBCs. It is expected that the ruling party at the Centre may implement the Rohini Commission report to take the wind out of the sails of the Grand Alliance in Bihar and INDIA in the rest of the country.
But it is easier said than done. Ten states had already implemented the sub-categorization at the state level. In Bihar the quota break up is: 18% for EBCs, 12% for OBCs, 16% for Scheduled Castes, one per cent for Scheduled Tribes and three per cent for women of backward castes.
Besides, after coming to power in 2005 Nitish Kumar introduced a 20 percent quota for EBCs in rural and urban local bodies, where a 50 percent quota is fixed for women and 16 percent for SCs.
Now that a huge number of EBCs have been compelled to give up their traditional occupations and having acquired education have joined the large army of job-seekers it is no easy task to successfully implement the Rohini Commission report. After all, the formula of the Economically Weaker Section among the General category was implemented on the eve of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. Now there is demand for 35% reservation in job for women as it has been adopted by several states.
Needless to say, the Kaka Kalelkar Commission, the first such panel on backward castes, submitted its report on March 30, 1955. It was finally rejected. It took 10 full years for the Mandal Commission report to be implemented by the then V P Singh government in August 1990.
Let us see what happens to the Rohini Commission report. Or will it succeed in solving the problem even if implemented?
| 
