Government of India on EWS quota

Government of India on EWS quota

Team Ambitiousbaba and AB are here with a Current Affairs Special Series. In this series, candidates will be introduced to current affairs topics daily, which will not only improve their general awareness but also will ensure that the candidates do not lack in any current affairs topic. Today’s Current Affairs topic is “Government of India on EWS quota”

Economically Weaker Section (EWS) is the section of society which belongs to the unreserved category with an annual family income of less than Rs.8 lakh

The Centre is going to review the Rs 8 lakh family income cap for Economically Weaker Sections to apply for 10% reserved seats in central education institutes. The Modi government’s submission in the Supreme Court on Thursday came after repeated court raps on the principle behind the current ceiling. Rs 8 lakh family income is limit to eliminate OBC ‘creamy layer’ from the scope of job and education reservations.

Tushar Mehta, Solicitor general of India has said that the government had taken a conceived view to think again on the criteria for using the EWS quota. The government had initially maintained the Rs 8 lakh ceiling on the basis of a scientific review was impractical but now proposed to complete the process in four weeks. SC admitted the Solicitor General to come back to the court with a new proposal. It will hear the case next on January 6. Mehta said that the NEET all-India quota counseling will stand deferred till then. Some NEET candidates had challenged a government notification setting aside 27% quotas for OBCs and 10% for economically weaker sections in the all-India quota.

While hearing their petitions, SC had said the limit was discretionary and adopting Rs 8 lakh as family income for EWS category was not fundamentally right. The base for reservations for OBCs was socio-educational backwardness while EWS reservations were purely basis on economical situation. The same yardstick cannot hence apply, it said. The court asked to know how same income limit made sense for people in rural and urban areas. It asked if Centre had reported for cost of living and purchasing power differences before fixing Rs 8 lakh limit. It also wanted to know if the figure was based on the recommendation of any committee which had examined issues in deeply.

SC asserted that governments which provide reservations must do due diligence to evaluate the numbers that would benefit from such quotas and if the data warranted such reservations. It had also insisted that the well- listed be kept out of the process. 10% reservations for EWS category take overall reservations to 69%. Reservations for SCs are 15%, for STs 7% and 27% for OBCs.

Question & Answer:

Q1. In which year 10% EWS quota was introduced?

Ans. 2019

Q2. What is the number of amendment was introduced for 10% EWS quota?

Ans. 103^rd Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2019