Trace the history and describe the methods of formulating the lists of OBCs, both at the State and National levels. (Answer in 250 words)

- Trace the history and describe the methods of formulating the lists of OBCs, both at the State and National levels. (Answer in 250 words)
Introduction
The Other Backward Classes are a residual category: those who are neither Scheduled Caste nor Scheduled Tribe yet are socially and educationally backward. Because the Constitution never defined them, the lists have been made by commissions and refined by courts.

Body
1. Origin: the category descends from the depressed and backward classes of the Madras and Mysore presidencies, and the Miller Committee of 1918. Article 340 empowers the President to appoint a commission to investigate their condition, and Articles 15(4) and 16(4) permit special provision for them.
2. The enquiries and the courts: the First Backward Classes Commission under Kaka Kalelkar reported in 1955, listing some 2,399 castes on four criteria, and was shelved because it had used caste. The Mandal Commission reported in 1980 using eleven social, educational and economic indicators, weighted three, two and one, identifying 3,743 castes and recommending 27 per cent reservation, implemented in 1990. Indra Sawhney upheld it in 1992, capped total reservation at half, and excluded the creamy layer.
3. The state method: a community petitions a statutory State Backward Classes Commission, which conducts surveys and public hearings against its own criteria and recommends inclusion; the state government then notifies. State lists therefore differ from the central list.
4. The national method: the National Commission for Backward Classes, statutory from 1993 and constitutional under Article 338B after the 102nd Amendment, advises on the central list under Article 342A. The 105th Amendment of 2021 restored the states' power to make their own lists, and the Rohini Commission has reported on sub-categorisation.

Conclusion
The lists are administrative artefacts built on contested evidence, which is why sub-categorisation and the caste enumeration returning in the next Census matter so much.