Two years ago when the Supreme Court expanded the scope of the right to life (as envisioned in Article 21 of the Constitution) by including transgenders in the OBC category for reservation in jobs and education institutions, it perhaps didn’t expect that the decision would benefit several other neglected sections of the society.
Taking a cue from this verdict, the statutory National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), the sole authority to determine which castes and classes are entitled to reservation, has decided to recommend quota in jobs and educational institutions for orphans.
Reservation for Orphans
The panel has sent its recommendation to the Union and state governments so that they can raise objections, if any, and collect data regarding this neglected section.
Once their responses are made available, the NCBC will issue necessary directions to the Union and state governments to implement reservations for orphans under Article 16(4) which provides for “equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.”
Economic and Caste Lines
- National Commission for Backward Classes recommends reservation for orphans, seeking suggestions from the central, and state governments.
- Article 16(4) of the Constitution mandates equal opportunities, providing reservation for orphans with legal weightage.
- The Supreme Court in a significant judgement last year has come down heavily on caste as the sole criterion for reservation.
- NCBC’s suggestion favours economic criteria as the basis of reservation.
What Defines ‘Backwardness’
The importance of NCBC’s recommendation (for the government that takes a decision to extend quota to a class of citizens, like the Jats) is evident from the fact that the decision taken by the UPA-II government in March 2014 in this regard was quashed by the Supreme Court last year.
The judgment delivered last year (15 March 2015) by Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Rohinton Fali Nariman defined a social class as “an identifiable section of society which may be internally homogenous (based on caste or occupation) or heterogeneous (based on disability or gender e.g. transgender).”
The bench held that “backwardness is a manifestation caused by the presence of several independent circumstances which may be social, cultural, economic, educational or even political. Owing to historical conditions, particularly in Hindu society, recognition of backwardness has been associated with caste.”
But the judges hastened to add that “though caste may be a prominent and distinguishing factor for easy determination of backwardness of a social group, this Court has been routinely discouraging the identification of a group as backward solely on the basis of caste.”
Economic Criteria for Reservation
Including orphans in the list of OBCs has its roots in the Jat quota judgement last year which stated that “new practices, methods and yardsticks have to be continuously evolved, moving away from caste-centric definition of backwardness. This alone can enable recognition of newly emerging groups in society which would require palliative action.”
NCBC Chairman Justice (retd) V Eswaraiah has stated that vulnerable groups, with similar occupations and low economic growth, will be included in the OBC list.
Thus, NCBC contemplates extending the affirmative action in favour of unorganised groups of the working class such as washermen, beggars, wanderers, rickshaw pullers, boatman and other daily-wage-earners.
To pass a legally acceptable order regarding reservation for a particular class or classes of people, the NCBC ought to act on contemporaneous data and not on antiquated figures provided by different government agencies.
Much to the NCBC’s disappointment, the Union Ministry of Social Justice And Empowerment (MoSJE) has asked the apex quota determination body to rely on a decadal review – undertaken five years ago – for determining eligibility of different sections of the society for reservation in jobs and educational institutions.
(The writer is a Delhi-based senior journalist)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)