BHUBANESWAR: AS the state government is all set to start online survey of other backward classes (OBC) from May 1 to May 27, 2023, the BJP on Thursday urged the government to conduct door-to-door survey as most of the people are not computer savvy.
Identifying 208 communities of the state as OBC, the state government is collecting information on social and educational conditions of backward classes, a precondition for determination of eligibility for providing 27 per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions.
With 54 per cent of the state’s population belonging to OBC, the online survey of around 2.5 crore people will be a cumbersome process as most of them live in rural areas and are illiterate, state BJP OBC morcha president Surath Biswal told a media conference here on Thursday.
“The state government has adequate manpower for conducting door-to-door survey. The enumerators will fill up the forms of all households after verification of records which is not the case in online survey,” Biswal said.
The advertisement issued by the government said that head of the family or any senior member of a family can fill up the online form in the nearest survey centre free of cost by showing his identity card be it ration card, Aadhar card, voter I-card, PAN card or passport or by paying in Mo Seva Kendra.
Biswal said none of the i-cards mentioned by the government is a proof for identifying someone as OBC. “This is not some scheme launched by the Odisha government that people will apply online. Due to various reasons, thousands will be excluded from the list. So, we demand the government to conduct a door-to-door survey,” Biswal said.
He said the survey will face the same fate as it happened in case of selection of beneficiaries for KALIA, PMAY and ration card. As the new academic year is going to start, the state government must clear whether OBC students of the state will get 27 per cent reservation during admission in medical and dental courses and Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya schools, he added.