Mandal Commission
Also: Second Backward Classes Commission, OBC reservation
Background and evolution
Article 340 lets the President appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes. The first such commission, chaired by Kaka Kalelkar, reported in 1955, but its recommendations were not accepted by the central government, partly because of disagreements within the commission over the use of caste as the main criterion.
The Janata government appointed the Second Backward Classes Commission in 1979 under B. P. Mandal, a former Chief Minister of Bihar. Using social, educational and economic indicators, the commission identified 3,743 castes and communities as backward and estimated that Other Backward Classes formed about 52% of the population. Because the Supreme Court had indicated that total reservation should not normally exceed 50%, and 22.5% was already reserved for SCs and STs, the commission recommended 27% for OBCs.
The report lay unimplemented for a decade. In August 1990 the V. P. Singh government announced 27% reservation for OBCs in central government posts. The decision triggered intense protests, including self-immolation attempts by students, and reshaped Indian politics around caste-based parties and social justice.
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Last reviewed: 23 October 2026 · Original UPSCPrep.in content.