Correct Option: A

The Mandal Commission was established in India in 1979 to identify who qualified as an “other backward class.” In its report in 1980, it affirmed the affirmative action practice under Indian law whereby members of lower castes (Other Backward Classes), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST)) were given exclusive access to a certain portion of government jobs and slots in public universities, and recommended changes to these quotas, increasing them by 27% to 49.5%.