50% Reservation 100% Politics

RESERVATION INVESTIGATED

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld 27 per cent reservations for Other Backward Castes (OBC) students in higher educational institutions like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Candidates falling in the ‘creamy layer’ though would not be eligible for the quota.

The creamy layer concept was first introduced by the Supreme Court in the Mandal judgment delivered in November 1992 to indicate an elite group among the Other Backward Classes.
The court had in 1992 asked the government to exclude the `creamy layer' from the purview of quotas to ensure that only the neediest among the OBCs benefited by reservation.
As per the principles laid down in the Mandal judgment, the children of constitutional functionaries including the President, judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, members of the Union Public Service Commission, Groups A and B or Class I or II officers of the All-India Central and State services and children of public sector employees are excluded from reservation.

Persons/Sections Excluded from Reservation which constitute Creamy Layer of the Society:

Sons and daughter(s) of

(a) President of India;

(b) Vice-President of India;

(c) Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts;

(d) Chairman and Members of UPSC and of the State Public Service Commission; Chief Election Commissioner; Comptroller and Auditor-General of India;

(e) Persons holding constitutional positions of like nature.

II. Service CategorySon(s) and daughter(s) of:

(a) parents, both of whom are Class I officers;

(b) parents, either of whom is a Class I officer;

(c) parents, both of whom are Class I officers, but one of them dies or suffers permanent incapacitation;

(d) parents, either of whom is a Class I officer and such parents dies or suffers permanent incapacitation and before such death or such incapacitation has had the benefit of employment in any International Organisation like UN, IMF, World bank, etc., for a period of not less than 5 years;

(e) parents, both of whom are Class I officers die or suffer permanent incapacitation and before such death or such incapacitation of the both either of them has had the benefit of employment in any International Organisation like UN, IMF, World Bank, etc. for a period of not less than 5 years;

B. Group B/Class II Officers of the Central and State Services (Direct Recruitment)Son(s) and daughter(s) of:

(a) parents, both of whom are Class II officers;

(b) parents of whom only the husband is a Class II officer and he gets into Class I at the age of 40 or earlier;

(c) parents, both of whom are Class II officers and one of them dies or suffers permanent incapacitation and either one of them has had the benefit of employment in any International Organisation UN, IMF, World Bank, etc., for a period of not less than 5 years before such death or permanent incapacitation;

(d) parents of whom the husband is a Class I officer (direct recruitment or pre-forty promoted) and the wife is a Class II officer and the wife dies; or suffers permanent incapacitation; and

(e) Parents, of whom the wife is a Class I officer (Direct Recruit or pre-forty promoted) and the husband is a Class II officer and the husband dies or suffers permanent incapacitation;

C. Employees in Public Sector Undertakings, etc. The criteria enumerated in A and B above in this category will apply mutatis mutandis to officers holding equivalent or comparable posts in PSUs, Banks, Insurance Organisations, Universities, etc., and also to equivalent or comparable posts and positions under private employment, pending the evaluation of the posts on equivalent or comparable basis in these institutions, the criteria specified in Category VI below will apply to the officers in these Institutions.

III. Armed forces including Paramilitary Forces (Persons holding civil posts are not included). Son(s) and daughter(s) of parents either or both of whom is or are in the rank of Colonel and above in the Army and to equivalent posts in the Navy and the Air Force and the Paramilitary Forces;

IV. Professional class and those engaged in Trade and Industry.(i) Persons engaged in profession as a doctor,lawyer, chartered accountant, income tax consultant, financial or management consultant, dental surgeon, engineer, architect, computer specialist, film artists and other film professional, author, playwright, sports person, sports professional, media professional or any other vocations of like status.

V. Property OwnersAlso, son(s) and daughter(s) of persons belonging to a family (father, mother and minor children) which owns:(a) only irrigated land which is equal to or more than 85% of the statutory ceiling area, or(b) both irrigated and unirrigated land,


The decision of the Union government to provide for the 27% reservation to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in higher educational institutions including elite institutions like IIT’s and IIM’s , has received a severe criticism as the sordid move caused a widespread consternation among the millions of aspiring and talented youth of the country। They are feeling as if they have been disowned by their own state. The very fact that the move to provide 27 % reservation to OBCs is based on an obsolete data which was collected nearly 7 decades earlier [the last census on the basis of castes was done in 1930s], means that government is trying to use the data which is 70 years old for formulating a policy for the next 35 years of the 21st century.






It was quite normal to see that the anti – quota protests received a plethora of support whether it is from the IMA, alumni and current students of IIT’s and IIM’s and the India INC. The student’s movement against the quota proposal under the banner “Youth for Equality” got an overwhelming support and the myriad followers
who openly expressed the dissatisfaction over the decision as it, according to them would not do our country any good.

Perhaps the basic dilemma to ponder over is “would reservations provide for social justice, as it is claimed to be? “Give it to those who deserve it in the real sense”, should be the punch line for the policy. There has been the provision for the reservations in other countries as well. The reservations are provided to Malays in Malaysia and to Negroes in US, so nobody could actually rule out the role and relevance of reservations in uplifting the oppressed.

But in fact, it has widened the gaps and created a ridge quite difficult to surpass, between various classes. Prior to the entire episode, neither anyone ever thought of his cast nor did anyone ask his freinds’. But now the spirit of the casteism is ominously swooping upon all other sentiments. If the reservations did not prove to be beneficial for the afflicted and the underprivileged section of the society even after 60 years of independence, then there is either something wrong in the policy or its implementation.






Youth has the right to know why they are being punished for the deeds of their forefathers and how long they would have to face the sentence. The reservations were put in place for the 10 years after the independence by the drafting committee but those 10 years have not been quite over yet, as it seems, and there is no chance either in near future.

There are some remedies also in the offing for giving the chance to the underprivileged to join the mainstream. Proper primary education , free coaching and tuitions and letting the OBCs compete with others at par, which would not only provide a fair chance to all but also preclude their own self esteem from getting being hampered. The comprehensive solutions would at least provide some respite in between the strife and would enable to bury the hatchet and lower down the tempo of communal skepticism.




Just as there is a universal immunization against polio, the proper primary education would be performing the same act against the imminent reservation। But what our government trying to do is perhaps “let the oppressed classes have polio and then provide them with the crutches of reservation.”



India is on the verge of a virtual take off to land in the company of some big players of the global economy.

The government ,as it seems has jumped into the murky waters and swooping to a hasty conclusion could lead to the de-mobilization of the talented youth, ready to conquer the world.
The prime reason of disappointment is that merit certificate has taken a place second to the caste certificate.

Feedback-- Abhay Mittal

abymittal@gmail.com