Reviewing EWS Quota

The Supreme Court's Constitution Bench is investigating whether the 10% quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) breaches the Constitution's fundamental principles.

Details about the News

Petition: The Supreme Court's bench will consider whether the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, which imposed the 10% EWS quota, breaches the fundamental principles of the Constitution while hearing petitions against it in government hiring and admissions.

For evaluating the EWS quota, the Supreme Court has established three fundamental questions:

• Provisions determined by economic standards:
• Whether the 103rd Constitutional Amendment, which allows the State to implement exceptional rules, including reservations, depending on economic factors, violates the Constitution's fundamental principles.
• Provisions relating to independent, private institutions:
• Whether allowing the State to impose specific rules for admittance to private universities without financial assistance violates the Constitution's fundamental principles.

Absence of SEBCs:

• Whether the exclusion of the SEBCs (Socially and Educationally Backward Classes), OBCs (Other Backward Classes), SCs (Scheduled Castes), and STs (Scheduled Tribes) from the ambit of EWS reservation may be argued to violate the fundamental structure of the Constitution.

Creamy layer in EWS :

• According to SC, the creamy layer issue is not included in the economically weaker sections (EWS) quota because it was intended to aid the poorest of the poor.

103rd Amendment Act

• A section of candidates from the General category will receive a 10% reservation in education and government positions in India due to an amendment made by the Parliament to the Constitution of India (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019.

Introduction of Articles 15 and 16's sixth paragraphs:

• By altering Articles 15 and 16, the amendment added economic reservation. It amended the Constitution by adding Articles 15 and 16 to allow for reservations for those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in the unreserved category.

Section 15(6):

• At order to admit students, up to 10% of seats in educational institutions may be set aside for EWS. Minority educational institutions will not be subject to such restrictions.

Section 16(6):

• Up to 10% of all government positions may be set aside for the EWS under this provision.
• State's prerogative: According to the Central government, each State government in the nation has the right to impose a 10% economic reservation on employment and admissions to State-run educational institutions.
• The State government in question must decide whether to grant the economically disadvantaged (EWS) of society reservations for employment in State government positions and admission to State government educational institutions in accordance with the provisions of the newly inserted Articles 15(6) and 16(6) of the Constitution.

EWS Quota Supporting Arguments

Benefits of reservation: According to the government, nothing will prevent members of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and the "poorest of the poor" from receiving the advantages of reservation.

• The quota is progressive since the economically underprivileged groups have not benefited from public employment and higher education because of their lack of financial resources.
• The quota is progressive and may help India's problems with income and educational disparity.

Abhorrent conditions:

• The reservation criteria in India should be economic because many classes, besides backward classes, live in abhorrent circumstances yet are unable to make use of reservation and its intended benefits.

Union of India v. Ram Singh (2015):

• In this instance, the SC argued that social problems may extend beyond the idea of caste (for example, economic status or gender identity in transgender people).

"Quota for the Poor" policy

• This policy is a sign of a bigger problem.
• It displaces the idea that the primary goal of public policy should be to promote welfare, conceals the state's egregious shortcomings in addressing issues of poverty and deprivation, and, at the same time, points to a dead end in the process of formulating policy.

Defending the EWS Quota

Reservation based on financial factors:

• Even while family income can be one of the criteria, making reservations only based on economic factors is not a perfect option.

Economic backwardness measurement:

• Identifying economic backwardness is difficult since there are questions about who should be included and excluded when using the criteria.

Equal opportunities:

• A Constitution Bench ruled in M. Nagaraj v. Union of India (2006) that equality is a fundamental component of the Constitution.
• Without the constitutional necessity for the 50% cap, the system of equal opportunity would disintegrate.

Financial difficulty:

• Due to the state's lack of resources, even the current, constitutionally required reservations cannot be enforced, making the implementation of the quota a task in and of itself.

Other:

• It eliminates the legally recognized gatekeeping mechanism of social and educational backwardness and opens reservations to all people, regardless of their level of social backwardness.
• Reservation has also become synonymous with anti-merit, with the extension of reservation, this opinion might get further ingrained in the public psyche.

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