In consumption, OBCs are no longer backwards

In consumption, OBCs are no longer backwards


If consumption defines our economic status, it seems there is not much difference between the country’s ‘General (non-SC/ST)’ category population and Other Backward Castes (OBC). It may sound unbelievable, but the annual per capita consumption expenditure (APCCE) for OBCs is Rs 15,436, which compares reasonably well with Rs 16,923 for the general category.

If you needed proof that social policy in this country operates quite in isolation of hard economic data, you need to look no further than the NSS data. OBCs — 35.8 % of India’s population and not 52% as the government would make us believe — compare favourably with the General category (36.5% population) on overall consumption figures as well as for individual products and services.


In fact in many items of personal consumption — appliances, jewellery, medical services, alcohol, electricity and fuel, personal household goods — the OBC category pips the General category by a good margin. Overall, APCCE for the top and bottom 20% of population for OBC and General is surprisingly similar.

The annual per capita consumption expenditure (APCCE) for OBCs is Rs 15,436, which compares reasonably well with Rs 16,923 for the general category.


Even as the imbroglio over reservation for OBCs in higher education institutes continues, with daggers drawn between proponents of the pro- and anti-quota stance, ET in partnership with National Council of Applied Economic Research’s senior fellow Rajesh Shukla did some quick analysis of the government’s own National Sample Survey (NSS 55th round 1999-2000) data on per capita consumption to come out with some startling figures.

If you needed proof that social policy in this country operates quite in isolation of hard economic data, you need to look no further than the NSS data. OBCs — 35.8 % of India’s population and not 52% as the government would make us believe — compare favourably with the General category (36.5% population) on overall consumption figures as well as for individual products and services.

And if you consider the top 20% population in the General and OBC categories, the gap not only narrows down considerably, but in very many products and services consumption is in fact higher than that in the General category, referred to as ‘Others’ in the NSS data.

At the top end, an average OBC spends Rs 15,436 compared to Rs 16,923 for General, and bottom 20% is the same for everyone, with OBC spends of Rs 3,293 hardly any different from the General’s spend of Rs 3,336.

Drill deeper and, in fact, APCCE of the top 20% of OBCs is higher than the General population in a host of consumption areas such as small appliances, jewellery, medical services, alcohol, electricity and fuel, personal household goods and pharmaceuticals.

Whereas APCCE for OBCs here (top 20%) on personal household durables is Rs 652, the General category population only spends Rs 648. OBCs have more money for medical services (Rs 439 versus Rs 382 for General), jewellery (Rs 272 versus Rs 148 for General), even alcohol (Rs 109 versus Rs 103 for General) and pharmaceuticals (Rs 835 versus General’s Rs 734).

Even in products and services where the General category scores over OBCs, the gap is not too wide for both the top and bottom 20% of the population in respective categories. For food products, OBC APCCE is Rs 6,614 compared to General’s Rs 6,920 in the top end. For the bottom 20%, General category population spends Rs 2,162 compared to OBCs’ Rs 2,101.

For big appliances, the top 20% of OBCs run almost neck-and-neck with the General category, with APCCE of Rs 36 and Rs 44 respectively. Again at the bottom end, there is hardly any difference in spends on books and education, with OBC APCCE at Rs 40 compared to General’s Rs 42.

What also emerges from this NSS data is the fact that on consumption spends there is hardly any difference in the bottom 20% of all categories, SC/ST (43.3% of its population in this segment), OBC (37.7%) and others (18.9 %) with APCCE of Rs 3,172, Rs 3,293 and Rs 3,336 respectively.

This may give some teeth to the lobby asking for the creamy OBC layer to be kept out of reservations and the bottom-trawlers of the General category also being offered some kind of reservations sops.


source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1606542.cms
 

amardeep.rishi

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
haha...yaa it's a front page article on todays economic times...and these govt is advocating abt their reservation....
 
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