History of Mandal Commission

# The Mandal Commission was officially called Second backward Classes Commission.

# It derives its name from parliamentarian BP Mandal, who chaired the Commission.

# The Mandal Commission was constituted by the Morarji Desai government in 1978 to consider action politics for backward classes, aimed at redressing caste discrimination.

# The Commission Report was submitted in Dec 1980. It sought reservation for 27 per cent of all services and public sector undertakings under the central government and 27 per cent of all admissions to institutions of higher education for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

#The percentage was over and above the existing 22.5 per cent reservation for SCs/STs.

#In Aug 1990, the then Prime Minister VP Singh assured its implementation in government jobs.

# It led to widespread protests, which finally led to his resignation.

# There were many self-immolations attempts, including that of Rajeev Goswami, a DU student.

#In 1993, the Supreme Court upheld 27 per cent reservation for OBCs.

#But it was subject to the exclusion of socially advanced persons/sections from amongst the OBCs.

# Children of Class I officers with income of Re one lakh were also excluded.

#The exclusion-income limit was revised to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2004.

#The reservation came into effect in Sept 1993 after the recommendations were accepted.

# In Aug 2005, the SC abolished all caste-based reservations in unaided private colleges.

# On Dec 2005, the Lok Sabha passed the 104th Constitution Amendment Act 2005, rolling back the SC judgement.

#The new clause allowed reservations for SC/ST and OBCs in private unaided educational institutions.

# The latest controversy erupted over the government's proposal to introduce 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in central government-funded higher educational institutes like IITs and IIMs.