India’s 10% quota for jobs for ‘economically weaker sections’ to go into effect next month

• The government’s newly-introduced 10% quota for ‘economically weaker sections’ for central government jobs will be in effect from 1 February onwards.
  
• It applies to people who have a gross annual family income less of less than ₹800,000.
  
• Denying the move as an election gimmick, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that the scheme has been in the pipeline for long.

The Modi government’s new rule to set aside 10% quota for ‘economically weaker sections’ for government jobs is set to go into effect on February 1. The quota is widely believed to benefit India’s middle class and the poor among India’s upper castes.

According to an official notification, the provision will be incorporated for all direct recruitment vacancies from next month. However, people seeking this quota will have to get their salaries, assets and family income verified from ranks above tehsildar of Union territories/states. The rule includes reservation for anyone with a gross annual family income of up to ₹800,000

The new law also includes a 10% reservation for people seeking to study in private colleges across various courses in over 900 universities. That will go into effect in the next academic session, IANS reported citing Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar.

Facing criticism that the move is an election gimmick, Union Minister Piyush Goyal reportedly said that the scheme has been in the pipeline for long.

However, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a political party in the state of Tamil Nadu, has challenged the ‘constitutional validity’ of the provision. Another petition was filed with the Supreme Court by ‘Youth For Equality,’ a non-profit challenging its constitutionality, citing the breach of an earlier Supreme Court judgment that put a cap on reservations at 50% As this quota applies to anyone who fulfills the income criteria, it will easily exceed that percentage.

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