OBC body holds sit-in at Nagbhid, seeks separate OBC column in caste census

Members of the OBC community held a dharna in Nagbhid on Tuesday, demanding a separate column for OBCs in the caste-wise census to be conducted in 2026-27. The agitation was organised by the All India OBC organisation.

After the sit-in, the organisation's members submitted a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister and the Census Commissioner through the tehsildar. The organisation said the OBC community's share in education, employment, reservation and funds cannot be determined until its actual population is established.

The memorandum made the same point. It said that without establishing the real population of OBCs, their share in education, employment, political representation, reservation and budget funds cannot be fixed in proportion to their population. It therefore demanded that a separate column for the OBC community be added to the census form.

The Union government had decided to conduct a caste-wise census at a Cabinet meeting on April 30, 2025. The organisation claims that the gazette notifications issued on January 22, 2026 and August 14, 2026 do not clearly mention a separate OBC column. It said this was why the demand was raised for a caste-wise census with a separate column, so that the OBC community's true population comes to light.

Mahendra Brahmanwade visited the protest site and spoke to the agitators. He said: "It is important from the point of view of social justice that the real population of the OBC community comes out. Accurate figures are necessary to determine the share of entitlement in proportion to population in education, employment, reservation, political representation and the government's various schemes. Therefore it is essential to have a separate column for the OBC community in the caste-wise census, and the government should consider this demand positively."

Those present at the dharna included the organisation's president Digambar Chaudhari, taluka Congress committee president Pramod Chaudhari, organisation vice-president Shivshankar Kore and secretary Shripat Matale. Also present were Sitaram Bawankar, Purushottam Bagmare, Daulat Samarth, Vinaji Nikure, Gajanan Deshkar, Haridas Thakre, Ashok Samarth, Daniel Deshmukh, Raju Morande, Prakash Chaudhari, Nitin Hemne, Shubham Hemne, Sudhakar Raut and Vishnu Mohurle.

Women who took part included Yamini Nikode, Geeta Thavare, Lata Deshmukh, Sangeeta Ladke, Kusum Chaudhari, Premlata Babankar, Runda Deshmukh, Sunita Doijad, Uttara Kore, Alka Baghmare and Mayuri Mohurle. A large number of other members of the OBC community also attended the sit-in.