The Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes, which submitted the first-ever survey on Socially Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) on Tuesday, said totally 53,96,132 households comprising a population of 1,94,88,671 belonged to backward classes in the State.
As against an OBC community population widely believed to be exceeding 50% in the State, the survey finds backward class population constitutes only 39.31% of the projected population of 2023. As per the 2011 Census data, Odisha had 4,19,50,951 population. The forecast population in 2023 is 4,95,65,045.
The population of the SEBC category in the State was never incorporated in any Census operation. This was the maiden attempt to find representation of backward class in State’s population.
