EWS
RESERVATION - POLITY
News: Bihar govt announces 10% reservation
for EWS in judicial services, government law colleges
What's
in the news?
●
Bihar government announced 10 percent
reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the judicial services
and state-run law colleges and universities.
Key
takeaways:
●
The announcement came just a day after the
government released the first set of data from state’s caste survey.
Constitutional
provisions:
●
The 10% EWS quota was implemented by
modifying Articles 15 and 16 of the
103rd Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2019.
●
EWS reservation was granted based on the
recommendations of a commission headed by Major General (retd) S R SINHO.
●
It added Articles 15 (6) and 16 (6).
●
It is for the Economically Weaker
Sections' economic reservation in jobs
and admissions to educational institutes (EWS).
●
It was designed to advance the welfare of
the poor who were not covered by the 50% quota policy for Scheduled Castes
(SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) & Socially and Educationally Backward Classes
(SEBC).
●
It empowers both the Centre and the states
to grant reservation to the economically weaker sections of the society.
Eligibility
criteria:
●
The eligibility to get the EWS certificate
is not only purely based on annual family income but also based on the held
property.
●
The income limit has been set by the
central government for admission to central government-owned colleges and jobs
offered by the central government.
●
State governments are given the authority
to change the eligibility criteria and also to extend the income limit further
for candidates seeking reservation under EWS category, which will be valid only
in state-owned colleges and state government's jobs as deemed fit for the
respective states.
Criteria
for identifying EWS quota:
●
Candidate's annual family income must be
less than Rs. 8 lakhs per annum.
●
Their family must not own more than 5
acres of agricultural land.
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The residential flatmates area should be
below 1000sq.ft.
●
The residential plot's area should be
below 100 square yards if in a notified municipality sector.
●
The residential plot's area should be
below 200 square yards if in a non-notified municipality sector.
Significance
of EWS Reservation:
1.
Empowering economically weaker sections:
●
The 10% quota is progressive and could
address the issues of educational and income inequality in India since the
economically weaker sections of citizens have remained excluded from attending
higher educational institutions and public employment due to their financial
incapacity.
2.
Constitutional recognition of the Economic Backwards:
●
There are many people or classes other
than backward classes who are living under hunger and poverty-stricken
conditions.
●
The proposed reservation through a
constitutional amendment would give constitutional recognition to the poor from
the upper castes.
3.
Reduction of Caste Based Discrimination:
●
It will gradually remove the stigma
associated with reservation because reservation has historically been related
with caste and most often the upper caste look down upon those who come through
the reservation.
●
In Ram Singh v. Union of India (2015), SC
asserted that social deficiencies may exist beyond the concept of caste (e.g.
economic status/gender identity as in transgenders).
Challenges
ahead:
1.
Reduction within general category: The EWS quota remains a
controversy as its critics say it reduces the size of the open category,
besides breaching the 50% limit on the total reservation.
2.
Arbitrariness over income limit: The court has been
intrigued by the income limit being fixed at ₹8 lakh per year. It is the same
figure for excluding the ‘creamy layer’ from OBC reservation benefits.
3.
Socio-economic backwardness: A crucial difference is
that those in the general category, to whom the EWS quota is applicable, do not
suffer from social or educational backwardness, unlike those classified as the
OBC.
4.
Metropolitan criteria: There are other questions as to
whether any exercise was undertaken to derive the exceptions such as why the
flat criterion does not differentiate between metropolitan and non-metropolitan
areas.
5.
OBC like criteria: The question the court has raised is that
when the OBC category is socially and educationally backward and, therefore,
has additional impediments to overcome.
6.
Not based on relevant data: In line with the Supreme
Court’s known position that any reservation or norms for exclusion should be
based on relevant data.
7.
Breaches reservation cap: There is a cap of 50% on reservation
as ruled in the Indira Sawhney Case. The principle of balancing equality
ordains reservation.
Should
India need reservation?
1.
Duty of the state to provide equality of status and opportunity:
●
Reservation is one of the tools against
social oppression and injustice against certain classes.
●
Otherwise known as affirmative action,
reservation helps in uplifting backward classes.
2.
Reservation is just one of the methods for social upliftment:
●
There are many other methods like
providing scholarships, funds, coaching and other welfare schemes.
3.
Vote bank politics:
●
Indian Constitution allowed reservation
only for socially and educationally backward classes.
●
However, in India, it became caste-based
reservation instead of class-based reservation.
4.
Mandal Commission Report:
●
Initially, the reservation was intended
only for SC/ST communities – that too for a period of 10 years (1951-1961).
However, it got extended ever since.
●
After the implementation of the Mandal
Commission report in 1990, the scope of the reservation was widened to include
Other Backward Communities (OBCs).
5.
Enjoyed only by few:
●
The benefits of the reservation were
successively enjoyed only by a few communities (or families), excluding the
truly deserving ones. Even 70 years after independence, the demand for
reservation has only increased.
●
Now, with the introduction of economic criteria
for reservation, in addition to the caste-criteria which already existed,
things have become more complicated.
WAY
FORWARD:
1.
Preserving the merit: We cannot rule out the sorry state of
economic backwardness hampering merit in our country.
2.
Rational criteria: There has to be collective wisdom to
define and measure the economic weakness of certain sections of the society in
order to shape the concept of economic justice.
3.
Judicial guidance: Judicial interpretation will pave the
wave forward for deciding the criterion for EWS Quota.
4.
Targeted beneficiaries: The centre needs to resort to more
rational criteria for deciding the targeted beneficiary of this reservation
system. Caste Census data can be useful in this regard.
5.
Income study: The per capita income or GDP or the
difference in purchasing power in the rural and urban areas, should be taken
into account while a single income limit was formulated for the whole country.
Reservation is a
constitutional scheme to ensure the participation of backward classes shoulder
to shoulder with all citizens in the nation-building process. The EWS quota
with above discussed ambiguities is the subversion of the constitutional scheme
for reservation.