A separate OBC column in the caste census is being demanded because the form has a column for SC and ST, and not for OBC. OBC means Other Backward Classes. People say that without a separate column their count will not be clean. If the count is not clean, reservation in jobs and college stays tangled too.
This is the position on 3 October 2026. Dates and quotes are from newspapers. A new government paper adding an OBC column was not in these reports.
What the column demand is
The census form goes to every house. It has an SC column. It has an ST column. OBC groups say their name does not come in a separate column. In 2011, castes were written with the social and economic census. The names were written in so many ways that the data could not be read. Forward Press wrote this about the Delhi meeting of 20 September 2026.
This time the demand is not for an empty space. It is for a column named OBC, and for a drop-down. A drop-down means a list opens, and the person doing the count picks the caste from the central list or the state list. They should not write it by hand. At the 2 October sit-in in Bhandara, the OBC Sangharsh Samiti and the Sakal OBC Mahamorcha said this. Lokmat printed the programme.
How it ties to reservation
The column and the reservation are not the same thing. Reservation is the share in jobs and college. At the Centre the OBC quota is 27 percent. Many states have their own percent. The census is the count that says how many people are in this class.
In Nagpur, Vijay Wadettiwar said that if the population figure does not come out, the question of seats and reservation will get more tangled. He is a Congress MLA from Vidarbha. On 13 September, about 65 OBC organisations met in Delhi. The calendar came after that. He also asked for scholarships on time, and said the OBC reservation that exists now should not be cut.
Who said what
On 19 September, Wadettiwar told workers from 11 districts of Vidarbha that a separate column is the clear demand. He also gave the plan. Taluka sit-in on 2 October. District marches on 25 October. Chalo Delhi on 1 November. The full shape of 1 November is to be fixed in a joint meeting. National Herald and The Times of India printed this sequence.
On 20 September the OBC Mahasabha met at Constitution Club in Delhi. People wore yellow caps and yellow scarves. Radheshyam Sahu, president of the Chhattisgarh unit, said the castes are different, but the identity in law is one. Advocate Dharmendra Kushwaha said that if the column is not added before the next Parliament session, there will be a protest at Jantar Mantar. These are statements. Not a court order.
2011 and 2027
The 2011 count keeps coming up because caste names were written by hand. One house got Kurmi, another got Kurmi Yadav, a third got farmer. Later the three did not become one number. Picking from a drop-down puts the names in one place. Only then can a state say how many people are in OBC. The talk of a job percent and a college seat stands on that number.
Reports say the count for the 2027 census has started in the cold hill 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.
This is not the recruitment-letter story
The street on the separate column is about the census. The 27 percent quota and the held recruitment in Madhya Pradesh are another story. The appointment letter there comes on a department order. The Kunbi certificate and the Maratha reservation fight in Maharashtra are separate. The teacher recruitment in Uttar Pradesh is separate. The Bengal certificate case is separate too. A column being added does not put a letter on a roll number.
Pages in the same line: today’s agitation, what Wadettiwar is saying, Chalo Delhi on 1 November and the 2 October sit-in.
The numbers here are the numbers in the reports. 27 percent at the Centre. About 65 organisations at the Delhi meeting. 11 districts of Vidarbha in Nagpur. Dates of 13 September, 2 October, 25 October and 1 November. A population percent for OBC was not in these reports, so that number is not here.
What is on the street next
The column demand is not stuck in one meeting. Prabhat Khabar wrote the Garhwa programme for 3 October, a march from the town hall at 4 pm. The plan was to burn an effigy of the notification at Ranka Mod. Jharkhand has also called a road block on 6 October. Whether a school will shut is a district order. District marches are spoken of for 25 October. Delhi is on 1 November. No report had one number for the crowd across the country. If WhatsApp says lakhs, do not take it as an official count.
The Garhwa programme on 3 October had the same demand. Add a separate OBC column on the form, and print the figure. The Bhandara sit-in on 2 October added the drop-down. The issue in both places is one. The OBC name should come clearly on the form.
Advice:
The plain point is this. People want a separate OBC column on the census form, and a drop-down, so the caste name is not written by hand. SC and ST already have a column. This demand is not a decision to raise the quota. It is a demand for a clean count. Once the count is clean, the talk on job and college reservation can stand on a number. If WhatsApp says the column has been added, do not take it as a government paper. Check the state OBC list for your name. This march will not give an appointment letter.
