Are saini comes in obc category or not?

Answer 1

Punjab

Sainis . or Shoorsainis, are a forward community in Punjab and J&K . Punjab is where the largest and the most authentic Saini population lives. The community is very powerful in Punjab and has claimed Rajput identity for itself since British era.

The community has excelled in all fields including defence forces, science and academia, civil services, engineering and medical professions, etc. The intellectual capital of the community can be gauged from the fact that world's largest selling Punjabi news paper , Ajit, is owned by Sainis. The designer of Intel's Pentium microchip , i.e, Avatar Saini also comes from this community. Top NASA scientist Dr. Subhash Saini is also from this community, while Ajay Banga, another Saini, heads the Master Card, world's second largest credit card company. He is also the former CEO of Citi Group (Asia Pacific). These are only handful examples. The community also has a powerful global presence. Jessie Singh Saini, the founder of BJ Electronics, is among America's richest Indians. Former British Field Hockey star and Olympics gold medalist , Kulbir Bhaura, also belongs to this vibrant community.

Most of the people claiming Saini identity beyond Ambala district of Haryana are either Mali or Rajput Mali. These communities adopted Saini last name since 1940. Before 1940 census they were known as Mali. But Mandal commission established in 1979 failed to take cognizance of this fact - mostly due to bureaucratic incompetence- and lumped both the communities together under a common name. This has created a lot of confusion regarding the identity of the community in government records.

Sainis of Punjab reject this classification and have made representation to the Punjab government not to include them in the OBC list. So far they have prevailed. In 2009, Badal government tried to include Sainis of Punjab in OBC list , on the behest of one self-styled community leader called Tarsem Saini, hoping to get political mileage out of it before election. But the move backfired and deeply outraged a fiercely proud Saini community of Punjab who forced Badal government to rescind the decision. Fearing a strong reaction from the community, no future government is likely to repeat the mistake. The community is also unlikely gain anythign from the classification as most of them will fall in 'creamy layer'.

Sociologists who have studied this community in Punjab have ranked it on top of the local caste heirarchy in the villages and areas dominated by them (Mehta, Shiv Rattan, 1972; Schwartzberg, 1968).

Haryana

In Haryana and HP Sainis are included in OBC. This is primarily because in southern districts of the state Mali community also now extensively uses last name 'Saini'. The OBC status of Sainis in Haryana is challenged by Jats of the state because it is felt Gurnam Singh Commision used arbitrary logic to place them in OBC list even when they fared better than many other forward communities in the state in the tests Gurnam Singh Commission had used to determine OBC status..

The Gurnam Singh Commission had recommended the OBC status for jats, jat Sikhs, Ahir, Bishnoi, Meo, Rajput, Gujjar, Rode (Ror) , Saini and Tyagi communities. But Bhajan Lal government kept the Jats and Rajputs out for some reason and gave OBC status to the rest. It must be noted that Bhajan Lal is not a Jat but a Bishnoi. Jats of UP, Delhi, MP and Rajasthan are already in OBC list while Rajputs in many states are also trying to claim this status.

Other States

In Rajasthan, UP and other states the communities using Saini name are either Mahur Malis or Rajput Malis. They adopted this name after 1940. Saini community of Punjab has no cultural or ancestral link with them, although Rajput Malis share some history as their ancestors, like those of Sainis, were also Rajputs who took to agriculture after losing battles to the Muslim monarchs (Hugh Kennedy Trevaskis, 1928). But Rajput Malis are essentially former Rajputs who became gardners in the royal courts while Sainis , also known as Shoorsanis, were invariably always independent agriculturists and maintained their military Rajput character despite adoption of an agricultural identity since the Muslim invasions( Sukhvir Singh Gahlot, Banshidhar, 1989; T.M. Dak, 1994).

There is another community called Bhagirathi in UP which also uses 'Saini' name with a different meaning. They are different from Sainis of Punjab and its bordering districts and have completely distinct history and culture.