West Bengal Government Reduces OBC Reservation from 17% to 7%

The new Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal led by Suvendu Adhikari has taken a major and politically impactful policy decision. The state government on Tuesday announced a complete reshuffle in the Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation list of West Bengal. Under this new decision, the total OBC reservation in the state has been reduced from 17 percent to just 7 percent. With this step of the government, many Muslim sub-castes which were included in the OBC list during the previous Mamata Banerjee government will now be out of the purview of reservation. The state government has clarified that this decision has been taken in compliance with the historic order of the Calcutta High Court in May 2024. The High Court in its verdict had clearly provided that only 7 percent OBC quota will remain valid in the state, under which a total of 66 categories will be entitled to reservation. The new government has completely repealed the old list on the basis of this legal order. During the tenure of the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, separate reservation of OBCs was made in the state. It was divided into 10 percent OBCs and 7 percent OBCs (OBCs).