Sources said on Wednesday the Union Cabinet, which is to meet on Thursday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was likely to discuss the “non-applicability” of 50 per cent ceiling on backlog reserved vacancies for OBC candidates.

The issue has already been discussed within a GoM headed by Home Minister Shivraj Patil. The GoM has given the go-ahead to launch a special drive to fill the backlog OBC vacancies similar to the one undertaken by the Centre to fill up the backlog of vacancies reserved for SCs and STs, which saw as many as 70,000 posts being filled up over the past two years.

In fact, even the Parliamentary Standing Committee on reservation of posts for SCs, STs and OBCs has indicated that the Government should try to fill up the vacant posts as per constitutional norms.

According to the latest data available with the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pension, the OBC representation in the Central Government services was just 1,61,818 posts across all categories in 2005.

This is less than six per cent of the total posts. In contrast, the SCs’ representation stands at around 18 per cent. As the Constitution makes it necessary for the Government to ensure 27 per cent representation for OBCs, the Government is keen to fill this huge backlog in time.

This will go a long way in consolidating the OBC support base in the country for the Congress-led UPA Government.

Cabinet is also likely to consider a proposal to launch a national scheme for providing incentives to girls in secondary education.