Read the passage and answer the questions:
Reservations for the OBC were in existence in southern States since the 1960s, if not earlier. But this policy was not operative in north Indian States. It was during the tenure of Janata Party government in 1977-79 that the demand for reservations for backward castes in north India and at the national level was strongly raised. Karpoori Thakur, the then Chief Minister of Bihar, was a pioneer in this direction. His 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. 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 society and identifying these backward classes. The Commission gave its recommendations in 1980.
Which of the following statements is correct regarding the purpose and recommendations of the Mandal Commission?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → To investigate the extent of educational and social backwardness among various sections of Indian society and recommend ways of identifying these ‘backward classes’.
Option (1) To investigate the extent of educational and social backwardness ... ‘backward classes’. — True. 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’.
Option (2) To provide its recommendations on how backwardness of SCs and STs could be remedied. — False. The Commission was set up to look into the conditions of the backward classes, and it advised that these be understood as castes other than the Scheduled Castes. Remedying the backwardness of SCs and STs was not its task.
Option (3) To emphasise that ‘backward classes’ should be understood to mean ‘backward castes’ and they should be integrated with Scheduled Castes. — False. The Commission did advise that ‘backward classes’ should mean ‘backward castes’, but castes other than the Scheduled Castes; it never asked for them to be integrated with the Scheduled Castes.
Option (4) To make recommendations on land reform, educational infrastructure development, and housing facilities for the lower castes. — False. Land reform was only one of its many other recommendations made to improve the conditions of the OBCs; it was not the purpose for which the Commission was set up.
NCERT: Politics in India since Independence — Chapter 8: Recent Developments in Indian Politics (2025-26)
|
