More than 44% of rural households are OBC, states NSO survey

At least 44.4% of 17.24 crore rural households in the country are from Other Backward Classes, revealed the survey data released earlier this month by the National Statistical Office of the Ministry of Programme Implementation as a part of the Statistics Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households and Land Holdings of Households in Rural India in 2019. This data comes amidst calls for caste-wise census survey.

This was first reported by The Indian Express, where they pointed out that in seven states — Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh — OBC households are in majority. The data was collected for the agricultural year July 2018 to June 2019.

The highest proportion of rural OBC households is in Tamil Nadu (67.7%), followed by Bihar (58.1%), Telangana (57.4%), Uttar Pradesh (56.3%), Kerala (55.2%), Karnataka (51.6%), Chhattisgarh (51.4%). These states account for 235 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

Of the estimated 17.24 crore rural households, 44.4% were OBCs; 21.6% Scheduled Castes (SC); 12.3% Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 21.7% other social groups. Of the total rural households, 9.3 crore or 54% are agricultural households, revealed the data.

The data showed that OBCs hold 47.2% of the land owned, followed by others at 28.5%, then Scheduled Tribes at 14.1% and the least land was owned was Scheduled Castes at 10.2%.

Though the average monthly income of a farm household pan India was Rs 10,218 during the agriculture year 2018-19, it was lower for backward classes. It stood at Rs 9,977 for OBC households, Rs 8,979 for ST households and Rs 8,142 for SC households. Agricultural households of ‘Other Social Groups’ recorded a higher average monthly income of Rs 12,806.

For states, the average monthly income per agricultural household in the OBC category ranged between Rs 5,009 and Rs 22,384 during agriculture year 2018-19. Of the 23 states, for which the income data is available, Uttarakhand recorded the highest average monthly income per OBC agricultural household, while Odisha (Rs 5,009) was at the bottom.