Dates and quotes are from newspaper reports. There is no official crowd count. Not legal advice. 3 October 2026.
The OBC agitation today is about a separate column in the caste census. OBC means Other Backward Classes. The demand is that the census form should have its own column for Other Backward Classes, as it does for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and a way to pick the caste from the central and state lists. Without a population figure, the argument over reservation, seats and scholarships stays incomplete. That is why people are on the street.
What is on the street today
On 3 October 2026 this is not one city’s crowd. Prabhat Khabar reported the Garhwa programme. Shubham Gupta, district president of the Rashtriya OBC Morcha, said a march would leave the town hall at 4 pm and an effigy of the government notification would be burnt at Ranka Mod. The demand is plain. Add a separate OBC column to the questionnaire, and publish the count.
A day earlier, on 2 October, there was a satyagraha outside the district office in Bhandara. Lokmat reported the programme of the OBC Sangharsh Samiti and the Sakal OBC Mahamorcha. They asked for a separate column and a drop-down menu, so the enumerator picks the caste from a list instead of writing it by hand. The groups also warned they might stay out of the census if the column is missing. No commission has published one nationwide crowd figure. A lakh written on WhatsApp is not an official count.
Why the column is being asked for
The census form goes to every house. Columns for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are old. Other Backward Classes say they do not have a separate column. In the 2011 socio-economic and caste census, castes were written down, but the data was so scattered it could not be read cleanly. Forward Press wrote this about the Delhi meeting of 20 September 2026. An open box can bring the same mess back. So the demand is not only “write the caste”. It is an OBC column, and a pick from the list.
Population is tied to reservation because the quota, the seat and the scheme sit on a number. At the Nagpur meeting Vijay Wadettiwar said that if the population figure does not come out, the question of representation and reservation will turn more serious. He is a Congress MLA from Vidarbha. About 65 organisations met in Delhi on 13 September. The calendar followed that meeting. He also spoke of scholarships paid on time, and of the existing OBC quota not being cut.
Who said what
On 19 September in Nagpur, Wadettiwar told office-bearers from 11 districts of Vidarbha that a separate column is the clear demand. Chalo Delhi is on 1 November. Before that, taluka satyagraha on 2 October and district marches on 25 October. The final shape of 1 November is to be fixed in a joint meeting. National Herald and The Times of India both reported this order.
On 20 September the OBC Mahasabha met at Constitution Club in Delhi. Yellow caps and yellow scarves were the colour of the hall. Radheshyam Sahu, president of the Chhattisgarh unit, said the castes are different and the constitutional identity is one. Advocate Dharmendra Kushwaha said that if the column is not in before the next Parliament session, there will be a protest at Jantar Mantar. These are statements. A fresh government notification adding an OBC column was not in these reports as of 3 October.
The dates ahead
The taluka satyagraha of 2 October was set on Gandhi Jayanti and Shastri Jayanti. Bhandara showed that. District marches are spoken of for 25 October. Chalo Delhi is on 1 November. Local programmes in Jharkhand have been announced separately. A road block on 6 October has been called, but whether a school is shut is a district order. Related pages: the separate column demand, what Wadettiwar is saying, Chalo Delhi on 1 November and the 6 October block.
This is not the Madhya Pradesh recruitment story
Today’s street is about the census column. The 27 percent quota and the 87:13 hold list in Madhya Pradesh are another story. The notification there is from 2019, and the appointment letter comes on a department order. The Kunbi certificate and the Maratha quota fight in Maharashtra are separate. The teacher recruitment in Uttar Pradesh and the Bengal certificate case are separate too. One day’s march is not the judgment in all those cases.
The figures in this article are the figures in the reports. 65 organisations at the Delhi meeting of 13 September. 11 districts at the Nagpur meeting. 2 October, 25 October and 1 November on the calendar. There is no single nationwide crowd number. A clean percentage from the 2011 caste count is not the base here, because that count could not be read cleanly.
Reservation and population are not the same thing
Readers often fold the two into one. Reservation is the share in jobs and education. At the Centre the Other Backward Classes quota is 27 percent. Many states have their own percentage. The census is the count that says how many people are in this class. The column demand is not a decision to raise the quota. The demand is a clean count. Once the count is clean, the government and the court both have a number. Without a number, every side runs its own figure.
That is why population, representation and reservation sit in one sentence in the language of the organisations. After Mandal, the identity of Other Backward Classes is constitutional, but the ten-year census has not carried a separate column for them. In 2011 there was an attempt, and the data stalled. Reports say the count for the 2027 census has begun in the snowbound states. Whether the form is still open, or an OBC column has been added, is not settled in these reports of 3 October. What is settled is the demand.
Advice:
While reading today’s news, keep the column demand and the street programme apart. An appointment letter on a roll number will not come out of this march. Whether a school, a bus or a road is shut, check the order of your district. A crowd figure on WhatsApp, or a post saying the column has been added, is not an order until a gazette or a census office notification is visible. Match your name with the state OBC list, not with a forward.
