Second Backward Classes Commission (Mandal Commission)

The Second Backward Classes Commission, commonly known as the Mandal Commission, occupies a central place in India’s constitutional and social history. It was constituted to address long-standing inequalities arising from caste-based social and educational backwardness and to recommend measures for ensuring substantive equality. 

The Commission’s findings and recommendations have had a lasting impact on India’s reservation policy, public employment, higher education, and political discourse.

Background and Need for the Commission

Indian society has historically been structured around caste and community identities. Access to education, land, employment, and political power was traditionally determined by social status rather than individual capability. While the Constitution of India promised equality before law and prohibited discrimination, it also recognised that formal equality alone was insufficient to correct deep-rooted social disadvantages.

After Independence, reservations were provided to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to address historical oppression. However, several socially and educationally backward communities remained outside the scope of affirmative action. These communities, later described as Other Backward Classes (OBCs), continued to face limited access to education and government employment. The need to identify such classes and design appropriate measures led to the establishment of backward classes commissions.

Establishment of the Mandal Commission

The Second Backward Classes Commission was established on 1 January 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai. It was constituted under Article 340 of the Constitution, which empowers the President to appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes.

The Commission was chaired by B. P. Mandal, a Member of Parliament. It consisted of five members, most of whom belonged to backward communities. The Commission came to be popularly known as the Mandal Commission, after its chairman.

Mandate and Objectives

The primary mandate of the Mandal Commission was:

• To identify socially and educationally backward classes in India
• To determine criteria for identifying backwardness
• To recommend steps for the advancement of these classes
• To examine the desirability of reservations in public employment and education

The Commission was expected to provide an empirical and objective basis for identifying backward classes rather than relying on vague or purely caste-based assumptions.

Methodology and Indicators of Backwardness

The Mandal Commission adopted a detailed and structured methodology. It relied on data from the 1931 Census, the last caste-based census in India, supplemented by field surveys and sample studies. The Commission evolved eleven indicators to determine backwardness, grouped under three heads:

Social Indicators

These indicators assessed social stigma and traditional disadvantages faced by communities, such as dependence on manual labour, early marriages, and higher participation of women in labour due to economic distress.

Educational Indicators

Educational backwardness was measured through school attendance, dropout rates, and the proportion of matriculates within a community as compared to state averages.

Economic Indicators

Economic conditions were assessed using indicators such as family assets, housing conditions, access to drinking water, and dependence on consumption loans.

Each indicator was assigned a weightage. Social indicators carried the highest weight, followed by educational and economic indicators. Communities scoring 11 points or more out of 22 were classified as socially and educationally backward.

Findings of the Commission

Based on the application of these indicators, the Mandal Commission concluded that:

• Other Backward Classes constituted approximately 52% of India’s population, excluding Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
• A total of 3,743 castes and communities were identified as OBCs across different States and Union Territories
• Backwardness was not merely economic but deeply intertwined with social status, access to education, and inherited disadvantages

The Commission emphasised that merit in a competitive society often reflects social privilege rather than innate ability. It observed that individuals from advanced social backgrounds benefit from favourable environments that significantly improve their chances of success.

Key Recommendations

The most significant recommendations of the Mandal Commission were:

• 27% reservation for OBCs in central government services and public sector undertakings
• Extension of reservations to higher educational institutions
• Measures for land reforms, improvement of agricultural viability, and development of cottage industries
• Expansion of educational facilities in backward regions

The figure of 27% was carefully chosen to ensure that total reservations, including those for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, remained below the 50% ceiling laid down by earlier Supreme Court decisions.

Delay in Implementation

The Mandal Commission submitted its report in December 1980. However, political instability and strong opposition prevented immediate implementation. Successive governments led by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi did not act upon the report due to its politically sensitive nature.

A significant shift occurred in 1990, when the National Front government led by V. P. Singh announced its decision to implement the recommendations relating to reservations in central government employment.

Mandal Protests and Social Response

The announcement of the Mandal reservations in 1990 triggered widespread protests, particularly among sections of urban youth and students. Demonstrations took place across universities and public spaces, raising concerns about social harmony, merit, and equality.

These protests reflected deeper anxieties about access to employment and the redistribution of state resources. At the same time, the decision was welcomed by backward class communities as a long-overdue recognition of historical injustice.

Judicial Review: Indra Sawhney Case

The constitutional validity of the Mandal Commission recommendations was challenged before the Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney & Others v. Union of India (1992). A nine-judge bench examined the legality of reservations for OBCs.

The Supreme Court upheld the 27% reservation for OBCs in central services, subject to important conditions:

• Total reservations must not exceed 50%, except in extraordinary circumstances
• Caste can be a valid indicator of backwardness, though not the sole factor
• The concept of the “creamy layer” must be applied to exclude economically advanced members of OBCs from reservation benefits

This judgement became a landmark ruling on affirmative action and equality in India. The creamy layer principle was implemented in 1992 and continues to shape reservation policy.

Reservation in Higher Education

While employment reservations were implemented in the early 1990s, reservations in higher educational institutions were introduced later. In 2006, the Union Government extended 27% OBC reservation to central educational institutions such as IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, NITs, and IISc.

This policy was supported by the Constitution (Ninety-Third Amendment) Act, 2005, which enabled the State to provide reservations in admissions to educational institutions, excluding minority institutions.

The constitutional amendment and enabling legislation were challenged but upheld by the Supreme Court in Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India (2008).

Constitutional and Social Significance

The Mandal Commission represents a major constitutional effort to translate the principle of equality into social reality. It reinforced the idea that equality requires compensatory measures for historically disadvantaged groups.

The Commission also reshaped Indian politics by bringing issues of social justice, representation, and identity to the centre of public debate. It altered electoral alignments and strengthened the political voice of backward classes.

Conclusion

The Second Backward Classes Commission marked a turning point in India’s approach to social justice and affirmative action. By adopting a structured methodology and grounding its recommendations in constitutional values, the Mandal Commission provided a framework for addressing social and educational backwardness beyond formal equality.