The Mahagathbandhan’s announcement of a 10-point ‘Atipichhda Nyay Sankalp’ (‘Extremely Backward Classes Justice Resolution’) last week is significant ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls in Bihar. The Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) are the largest social group in Bihar, one which has been a traditional voter base for Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal (United). The Opposition’s push to attract EBC voters seeks to fundamentally reshape Bihar’s electoral dynamics, and help rebuild the Congress’ voterbase. Who are EBCs? The EBCs are a sub-category of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) specifically defined by the Bihar government. They comprise socially and educationally disadvantaged castes that were deemed “more deprived” than the larger OBC grouping. The recent caste survey in Bihar counted about 113 distinct castes or sub-castes as EBCs, including traditional artisans, labour or service communities like the Hajams (barbers), Sahanis, Nishads, and Kevats (fishermen communities), Lohars (blacksmiths), Telis (oil traders), and Nonias (salt-makers). Many EBC communities face occupational extinction due to mechanisation and changing economic patterns. For instance, the Kahars (palanquin-bearers) and Nalbands (horse-shoe makers) have lost relevance in the automobile age. Collectively, the EBCs make up 36.01% of the state’s 13.07 crore population, while OBCs (not comprising EBCs) make up another 27.12%. Reservation in Bihar Bihar pioneered caste-based reservations more than a decade before the Mandal Commission recommendations were implemented nationally. In 1978, then Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur, an EBC leader himself, announced a 26% reservation in government jobs for backward classes. The system allocated 12% to Most Backward Classes (later termed EBCs), 8% to OBCs, 3% for women, and 3% for economically weaker sections among upper castes. These quotas were based on recommendations made by the Mungeri Lal Commission, which had identified 128 backward communities in the state, of which 94 were categorised as “most backward”. In the 1990s, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) governments further expanded EBC quotas. Lalu Prasad raised it to around 14% during his tenure; Rabri Devi to around 18%. In 2006, Nitish Kumar’s government reserved 20% of seats for EBCs in Panchayati Raj institutions. During his tenure, the scope of EBC reservations was extended to municipal bodies and various welfare schemes. In 2023, during the rule of the short-lived JDU-RJD alliance, the Bihar Assembly passed Bills raising the collective reservation for SC, ST, OBC, and EBC from 50% to 65%, in line with the findings of the caste survey. The EBC quota was raised to 25%. This 65% quota, combined with the existing 10% reservation for EWS, would have increased the total reservation to 75% in government jobs and educational institutions. In June 2024, the Patna High Court struck down the quotas as unconstitutional, arguing that the state government’s population-based rationale was insufficient to breach the 50% limit established by the Supreme Court in the landmark Indra Sawhney (1992) case. Congress, RJD & the EBCs Thakur’s OBC and EBC reservations had faced fierce opposition from upper caste leaders within his Janata Party, as well as indirect resistance from the Congress. When Thakur was ousted in 1979, the Congress-backed Chief Minister Bhola Paswan Shastri did not scrap the policy but set up new commissions to reassess reservations. The ‘Karpoori formula’ influenced the establishment of the Mandal Commission by the Janata Party government in New Delhi in 1979. While the Commission’s 1980 report recommended a 27% OBC quota in central jobs and education, the Congress, wary of alienating its upper caste base, did not act upon it through the 1980s. It was only in 1990 that V P Singh’s Janata Dal government implemented the Mandal recommendations, triggering mass upper-caste protests and a nationwide churn on social justice. Through this period, Congress adopted a non-committal stance — neither championing OBC quotas nor opposing them outright. In contrast, in the post-Mandal 1990s, Lalu’s RJD actively expanded OBC and EBC entitlements. While consolidating the Muslim-Yadav base, Lalu also advanced the cause of numerically smaller but marginalised EBCs through hostels, educational scholarships, targeted recruitment, and expanded quotas in local bodies. The Congress’s position on OBCs and EBCs shifted gradually as its upper-caste base eroded. Through the 1990s and 2000s, electoral compulsions nudged it toward accepting caste quotas more explicitly. By the 2010s, Congress began supporting the expansion of EBC reservations, state caste surveys, and a revision of the 50% cap. In the 2020s, under Rahul Gandhi, it has moved to fully commit to championing the EBCs to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) stranglehold in national politics, demanding proportional quotas and embedding these commitments in coalition pacts. The resolution The resolution promises of a dedicated EBC Atrocities Prevention Act similar to SC/ST law; increasing EBC reservation in panchayats from 20% to 30%; breaking the constitutional 50% reservation ceiling by placing laws in the Ninth Schedule; eliminating ‘Not Found Suitable’ (NFS) practices; land distribution to landless families; enhanced education quotas; contract reservations; and establishing a regulatory authority for oversight. The banning of NFS practices is particularly significant. These practices involve selection committees allegedly rejecting qualified reserved-category candidates. Data show that 62-65% of SC/ST university recruitment interviews end with NFS decisions. The resolution to end NFS would effectively force committees to fill all reserved positions with eligible candidates, unless they are genuinely unqualified. Another promise is to give landless EBC families 3 decimals in urban areas and 5 decimals in rural areas. The recent Abhiyan Basera survey shows that across Bihar’s 38 districts, there were 137,029 landless families registered, of whom 48.5% have received plots under existing government programs, leaving 70,638 families (51.5%) awaiting land allotment. Most of these families are from the EBC group. But several promises are likely to face challenges. While Bihar hopes to use the Ninth Schedule route to bypass the SC’s 50% cap on reservations, the 2007 court’s I R Coelho judgment means such laws can be challenged if they violate the basic structure of the Constitution.
