Over 44% of rural households are OBC; NSO survey

Ground Report | New Delhi: rural households are OBC; The debate of caste census continues in the country, the central government has clearly stated in an affidavit in the Supreme Court that the counting of OBC castes in the census is a long and difficult task, so it will not be included in the 2021 census. OBC communities are a majority in the rural areas of seven states- Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh.

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rural households are OBC

The survey was conducted by the National Statistical Office of the Ministry of Programme Implementation and Statistics, the data is for the agricultural year 2018-19. The agricultural year in India is from July to June.

According to the report of The Indian Express, the data shows that out of an estimated 17.24 million rural households, 44.4% were OBC, 21.6% Scheduled Caste (SC), 12.3% Scheduled Tribe (ST) and 21.7 percent were other social groups. Of the total rural households, 9.3 crore or 54% are agricultural households.

The highest proportion of rural OBC households is in Tamil Nadu (67.7%) and the lowest in Nagaland (0.2%). Apart from Tamil Nadu, OBC households, total rural households in six states – Bihar (58.1%), Telangana (57.4%), Uttar Pradesh (56.3%), Kerala (55.2%), Karnataka (51.6%), Chhattisgarh (51.4%) are more than half of . These states are politically important, as there are 235 members of the Lok Sabha from these areas.

In addition, the share of rural OBC households in Rajasthan (46.8%), Andhra Pradesh (45.8%), Gujarat (45.4%), and Sikkim (45%) is also higher than the country's overall average (44.4%). At the same time, the share of rural OBC households in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Haryana, Assam, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Tripura, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland is higher than the national average. is less in comparison.

The survey reveals that out of an estimated 9.3 crore agricultural households, 45.8% are OBC, 15.9% SC, 14/2% ST and 24.1% are from other social groups.

Low average monthly income of OBC families

The survey also provides data on the average monthly income per agricultural household (based on the 'paid expenditure' approach). While the average monthly income of a farmer family at all India levels during the agricultural year 2018-19 was Rs 10,218, it was lower for OBC agricultural households (Rs 9,977), SC households (Rs 8,142), ST households (Rs 8,979). However, agricultural households from 'other social groups' recorded an average monthly income of Rs 12,806.

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For states, the average monthly income per agricultural household in the OBC category ranged between Rs 5,009 and Rs 22,384 during the agricultural year 2018-19. Among the 23 states for which income data are available, Uttarakhand recorded the highest average monthly income per OBC agricultural household, while Odisha (Rs 5,009) was the lowest.

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