Kalelkar Commission
Also called: First Backward Classes Commission · Topic: Safeguards for Vulnerable Sections: SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities, Women and Children · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 8 "Recent Developments in Indian Politics"
Meaning
The Kalelkar Commission was India's First Backward Classes Commission. It was set up under Article 340 in 1953, headed by Kaka Kalelkar, and reported in 1955. It was asked to find out which groups were socially and educationally backward. The Union government rejected its report and left it to the states to identify backward classes.
Example
The commission listed 2,399 backward castes and marked 837 of them as "most backward". Yet in his covering letter, the chairman himself doubted whether caste should be the test of backwardness. This doubt weakened the report, and it was never put into effect.
Don't confuse with
- Mandal Commission (1979-80): the second Backward Classes Commission. It identified 3,743 castes and recommended 27% OBC reservation, which was put into effect from 1990 and, after Indra Sawhney, from September 1993.
Related concepts
- Backward Classes Commission (Article 340)
- Other Backward Classes
- OBC reservation
- Ashoka Kumar Thakur case
- Creamy layer
- 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act 2018
- 105th Constitutional Amendment Act 2021
- Rohini Commission