SC Has Just Changed the Game for Reservations in India

 SC Has Just Changed the Game for Reservations in India

Creamy layer to be brought into SC and ST Reservation? 

How Will it Affect Job and Education Opportunities for SC/ST Communities?

On August 1, 2024, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment that allowed states to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) for granting separate quotas for the more backward groups among them.

What is sub-classification of SCs and STs?

- Sub-classification means dividing the SCs and STs into sub-groups based on their relative backwardness and providing them differential quotas within the overall reservation of 15% for SCs and 7.5% for STs.

- The idea is to ensure that reservation benefits reach the most deprived and excluded communities within the SCs and STs, often referred to as the “Dalits among Dalits” or the “Adivasis among Adivasis”.

- Sub-classification is also known as “quota within quota” or “reservation within reservation”.

Why is Sub-Classification Needed?

- The SCs and STs are not homogeneous groups, but comprise various castes and tribes with different degrees of social, educational and economic backwardness.

- Some of the SCs and STs have been able to access the benefits of reservation more than others, leading to the creation of a “creamy layer” or an “elite class” within these groups.

- This has resulted in the exclusion and marginalisation of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged sections of the SCs and STs, who continue to face discrimination, violence and poverty.

- Sub-classification aims to address this intra-group inequality and ensure that the reservation policy is more equitable and inclusive.

#SupremeCourt's observations on exclusion of 'creamy layer' from SC/ST reservations :

"Putting the children of the parents from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who on account of benefit of reservation have reached a high position and ceased to be socially, economically and educationally backward and the children of parents doing manual work in the villages in the same category would defeat the constitutional mandate" - Justice Gavai.