The Mandal Commission, officially the Second Backward Classes Commission, was a commission of inquiry established by the Janata Party government on January 1, 1979, under Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Headed by Member of Parliament B.P. Mandal, its mandate was to identify the socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs) in India and recommend measures for their advancement, particularly concerning reservations in public services and educational institutions. This was a follow-up to the first such commission, the Kaka Kalelkar Commission (1953).
The Commission submitted its report in December 1980. It identified 3,743 castes as socially and educationally backward, which it estimated comprised about 52% of India's population. The key mechanism proposed was a 27% reservation for these Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in central government jobs and public sector undertakings. This figure was chosen to ensure that the total reservation, including the existing 22.5% for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), would remain below the 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court in earlier judgments.
The recommendations were implemented in 1990 by the V.P. Singh government. This implementation was challenged, leading to the landmark Supreme Court judgment in Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992). The Court upheld the 27% reservation for OBCs as constitutionally valid under Article 16(4), but it introduced the concept of the 'creamy layer' to exclude the more affluent members of the OBCs from the benefits. The Court also affirmed the 50% cap on total reservations and struck down the recommendation for reservations in promotions. The concept of the 'creamy layer' remains a key provision, with the income threshold being periodically revised (currently ₹8 lakh per annum). The reservation for OBCs in central educational institutions was implemented later in 2006.