Given below are two statements :
Statement (I) : The recommendation of the Mandal Commission was that jobs in the Central Government should be reserved for the SC & ST.
Statement (II) : This dispute between the supporters and opponents of OBC reservations was known as the ‘Mandal Issue’.

In light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below :
(1) Both Statement I and Statement II are correct
(2) Both Statement I and Statement II are incorrect
(3) Statement I is correct but Statement II is incorrect
(4) Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct

4

The correct answer is: (4) Statement I is incorrect but Statement II is correct.

Statement I is incorrect because the Mandal Commission's recommendation was primarily related to OBC (Other Backward Classes) reservations, not SC & ST. Statement II is correct as the dispute between the supporters and opponents of OBC reservations is indeed known as the 'Mandal Issue'.

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 Mandal 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.