Glossary: Mandal Commission
DEFINITION:
A government-appointed commission, officially the Second Backwards Classes Commission, chaired by former member of Parliament Bindhyeshwari Prasad Mandal from December 1978 to December 1980. Of the five members, four were from Backward Classes (q.v.) and one was from a Scheduled Caste (q.v.). The commission’s controversial December 1980 report (the Mandal Commission Report of the Backward Classes Commission) called for reserving 27 percent of all services and public-sector undertakings under the central government and 27 percent of all admissions to institutions of higher education (except in states that have reserved higher percentages) for Backward Class members and Dalits (q.v.). In August 1990, Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh announced his support for the radical affirmative-action 1980 proposals. The First Backward Classes Commission existed from January 1950 to March 1955.