Mandal Commission

Also called: Second Backward Classes Commission · Topic: Recent Developments in Indian Politics: Coalitions, Mandal and a New Consensus · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 8 "Recent Developments in Indian Politics"

Meaning

The Mandal Commission (Second Backward Classes Commission) was a body set up by the Janata government in 1978-79 under Article 340, with B.P. Mandal as chair, to identify the backward classes and suggest ways to help them [11]. Its 1980 report treated "backward classes" as "backward castes". It counted 3,743 castes as OBCs, about 52% of the people, and recommended 27% reservation for them in government jobs and educational institutions.

It matters for two reasons. When the report was put into action in 1990, it changed north Indian politics and helped the OBC-based parties rise. The court case that followed, Indra Sawhney (1992), set the main rules for reservation that India still uses: the creamy layer and the 50% ceiling.

Explanation

Background: who are the OBCs, and why a commission?

• OBC (Other Backward Classes): a label the government uses to run its policies. It covers communities that are socially and educationally backward but are not Scheduled Castes (SCs) or Scheduled Tribes (STs).
• What the Constitution calls them: "socially and educationally backward classes" (SEBCs).
• Article 15(4) lets the State make special provisions for them.

• Article 16(4) lets the State reserve government posts for backward classes that do not have enough people in its services [11].

• The north–south gap:

• Southern states had OBC reservation from the 1960s or earlier.

• North India did not, so the demand there grew under the Janata government (1977-79).

• The first try failed: the First Backward Classes Commission (Kaka Kalelkar) reported in 1955. The Union government did not act on it.

Setting up the commission and its tasks

• Legal base: under Article 340, the President can appoint a commission to study the conditions of backward classes and suggest remedies [11].
• Set up by: the Janata government, in 1978-79.
• Chair: B.P. Mandal, a politician from Bihar. He was briefly Chief Minister of Bihar (1968) and later a Janata Party MP.
• Its three tasks: 1. Find out how socially and educationally backward these groups were. 2. Identify the backward classes. 3. Recommend remedies.

What the report found and recommended (1980)

• Main reading: "backward classes" meant "backward castes".
• Many castes other than the SCs were also treated as low in the caste hierarchy (the ranking of castes from "high" to "low").

• So caste became the main sign of social backwardness.

• Method: 11 indicators, grouped as social, educational and economic.

• Findings:
• It listed 3,743 castes as OBCs.
• It put OBCs at about 52% of the population.

• Its survey showed very few OBCs in educational institutions and in government jobs.

• Recommendations:

• 27% reservation for OBCs in government jobs and educational institutions.
• Land reform and other steps to improve the condition of OBCs.

Why 27% and not 52%: the limit

• SCs and STs together already had 22.5%.
• Adding 27% kept the total just under 50%, the limit the courts had suggested.
• Delay: the Janata government had fallen by 1980, so the report stayed shelved for about ten years.

In the Constitution and practice

Implementation, step by step (1990-92)

Step	Date	Government	What happened
Decision	August 1990	National Front (PM V.P. Singh)	27% of jobs in the central government and public sector undertakings (PSUs, government-owned companies) reserved for OBCs
Order	13 August 1990	National Front	DoPT Office Memorandum (OM), a formal government order, issued
Protests	1990	—	Violent "anti-Mandal" protests in north Indian cities
Change	25 September 1991	P.V. Narasimha Rao (Congress)	New OM: poorer OBCs to get preference within the 27%, plus a 10% quota for the economically backward among other groups
Verdict	16 November 1992	Supreme Court, 9 judges	Indra Sawhney v. Union of India [9]

Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992): the landmark case

• 27% OBC quota: upheld. Caste can be used to identify backward classes.
• Creamy layer: excluded. The creamy layer means the better-off OBC members (those with higher income or status). They cannot use the quota [9].
• 50% ceiling: reservation under Articles 15(4) and 16(4) must not go above 50%, except in extraordinary situations [9].
• 10% economic quota (from the 1991 OM): struck down. Economic criteria alone cannot be the basis for reservation under Article 16(4).
• Promotions: no reservation in promotions. Reservation applies only at the entry stage (first appointment).
• Permanent body: the Court told the government to set up a permanent body to examine OBC lists. This led to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) in 1993. It began as a statutory body, meaning one created by an ordinary law: the NCBC Act, 1993. That Act was later repealed when the NCBC became a constitutional body [12].

Later changes that grew out of Mandal

• 93rd Amendment (2005): inserted Article 15(5), which allows reservation for OBCs, SCs and STs in educational institutions, including private ones. Minority institutions are left out [11].
• Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006: 27% OBC quota in central institutions such as the IITs and IIMs [10]. This applied Mandal's education recommendation at the national level.
• 102nd Amendment (2018): made the NCBC a constitutional body under Article 338B and inserted Article 342A, the Central List of SEBCs [5][6].
• The NCBC has a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other Members, all appointed by the President [5].

• It has the powers of a civil court (a court that hears non-criminal cases) during an inquiry. The Union and every State must consult it on major policy matters affecting SEBCs [5].

• 105th Amendment (2021):

• The Supreme Court's judgment of 5 May 2021 in the Maratha quota case read the 102nd Amendment as taking away the states' power to identify SEBCs [13].
• Parliament then passed the 127th Amendment Bill: the Lok Sabha on 10 August 2021 and the Rajya Sabha on 11 August 2021 [4].

• Now the Article 342A list is only for the central government. Each State or UT may make its own list by law [4][6].

• 103rd Amendment (2019): EWS quota of up to 10% for the economically weaker sections among groups not covered by other quotas, through Articles 15(6) and 16(6) [11].

• Rohini Commission: appointed under Article 340 on 2 October 2017 to study sub-categorisation of OBCs [3]. Sub-categorisation means dividing OBCs into smaller groups so that the weakest are not crowded out. The commission submitted its report to the President on 31 July 2023 [2].
• Caste census: on 30 April 2025, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs decided to count caste in the main Census [7]. Caste will be recorded in the Population Enumeration phase of Census 2027. Until Census 2011, only SCs and STs were counted by caste [8].

Lasting political effect

• Sharp split: supporters of the OBC quota on one side, anti-Mandal protesters on the other.
• Rise of OBC parties in the north: NCERT calls this the political rise of the OBCs ("Mandalisation").
• New consensus: according to NCERT, all major parties now support OBC reservation.

Don't confuse with

• First Backward Classes Commission (Kaka Kalelkar): it reported in 1955, and the Union did not act on it. Mandal was the second commission, and its report came in 1980.
• Karpoori Thakur formula (Bihar, 1978): this was a state scheme with 26% reservation (12% + 8% + 3% + 3%). It split backward classes into sub-groups and also set aside posts for women and the poor. Mandal was a national commission that recommended 27%.
• NCBC (Article 338B): a permanent body that checks whether OBC safeguards are working [5]. The Mandal Commission was a one-time commission under Article 340 [11].
• EWS quota (103rd Amendment, 2019): it is based on economic criteria alone [11]. Mandal's 27% is based on social and educational backwardness, identified mainly by caste.

Prelims Hooks

• Article 340 → the President appoints a commission on backward classes. Both the Mandal and Rohini commissions were set up under it [11][3]. Trap: the answer is not Article 338 or 338B.
• Mandal numbers: 3,743 castes · about 52% of the population · 11 indicators · 27% quota · report 1980.
• OM of 13 August 1990 (V.P. Singh) → 27% OBC quota in central jobs and PSUs. OM of 25 September 1991 (Narasimha Rao) → added a 10% economic quota, which Indra Sawhney struck down.
• Indra Sawhney (16 November 1992, nine judges) → 27% upheld · creamy layer excluded · 50% ceiling · no reservation in promotions [9] · led to the statutory NCBC (1993) [12].
• 102nd Amendment (2018) → Articles 338B and 342A [5][6]. 105th Amendment (2021) → states got back the power to keep their own OBC lists. Trap: the bill was numbered the 127th Amendment Bill [4].
• Rohini Commission → appointed 2 October 2017, report submitted 31 July 2023, subject: sub-categorisation of central OBCs [3][2].

Mains Points

• Caste as the measure of backwardness (GS-I/II):
• Mandal used caste as the main sign of social backwardness. This brought OBCs into national power and built today's agreement across parties on OBC reservation.
• Critics say it made caste more important in politics.

• Indra Sawhney tried to balance both sides with the creamy layer test and the 50% ceiling [9].

• Benefits shared unequally:

• A few stronger OBC castes may take most of the quota benefits.
• The Karpoori Thakur model (1978) and the Rohini Commission (2023) both answer this with sub-categorisation [2].

• The caste count in Census 2027 could give the data needed to do this properly [8].

• Who decides, and how far quotas can go (GS-II):

• The 102nd Amendment, the 2021 Maratha judgment and the 105th Amendment show a tension between the Centre and the states over who identifies backward classes [13][4].
• The EWS quota (2019) takes total reservation above 50% for the first time, on an economic basis [11]. Demands such as the Maratha quota raise a question: should the Indra Sawhney ceiling stay as it is, or be looked at again using new caste data?

Related concepts

• Karpoori Thakur formula
• Mandal issue

Read more

• The Mandal Commission and its implementation