Consider the following statements about the Mandal Commisssion and choose the correct code:

(a) It recommended reserving 27 per cent of seats in educational institutions and government jobs for OBCs.
(b) Mandal Commission was headed by M P Mandal.

(a) is true but (b) is false.

The correct answer is Option 1 - (a) is true but (b) is false.

Given statements:

(a) It recommended reserving 27 per cent of seats in educational institutions and government jobs for OBCs. (correct)
(b) Mandal Commission was headed by M P Mandal. (Incorrect)

Correction: Babu Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal was the head of the Mandal Commission.

Karpoori Thakur's government had introduced a new policy of reservations for OBCs in Bihar. Following this, the central government appointed a Commission in 1978 to look into and recommend ways to improve the conditions of the backward classes. This was the second time since Independence that the government had appointed such a commission. Therefore, this commission was officially known as the Second Backward Classes Commission. Popularly, the commission is known as the Mandal Commission, after the name of its Chairperson, Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal

The Mandal Commission was set up to investigate the extent of educational and social backwardness among various sections of Indian society and recommend ways of identifying these ‘backward classes’. It was also expected to give its recommendations on the ways in which this backwardness could be ended. The Commission gave its recommendations in 1980. By then the Janata government had fallen. The Commission advised that ‘backward classes’ should be understood to mean ‘backward castes’, since many castes, other than the Scheduled Castes, were also treated as low in the caste hierarchy. The Commission did a survey and found that these backward castes had a very low presence in both educational institutions and in employment in public services. It therefore recommended reserving 27 per cent of seats in educational institutions and government jobs for these groups. The Mandal Commission also made many other recommendations, like, land reform, to improve the conditions of the OBCs.