Indian Polity Quiz: Reservation in India: Constitutional Provisions, OBC and EWS Quotas

The Second Backward Classes Commission was appointed in 1979 under Article 340 of the Constitution, which empowers the President to appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes.

It says that nothing in Article 16 shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State.

The 103rd Amendment Act of 2019 added clause (6) to Article 15 for reservation in admission to educational institutions and clause (6) to Article 16 for reservation in appointments, in each case up to ten per cent for the economically weaker sections of citizens who are not covered by the…

The nine-judge bench in Indra Sawhney upheld the twenty-seven per cent quota for the Other Backward Classes but held that the socially advanced members of those classes, described as the creamy layer, must be excluded so that the benefit reaches the genuinely backward; the same judgment laid down the fifty…

It was passed after the Supreme Court in State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan struck down a communal order reserving seats in colleges, holding that it offended Article 15(1); Parliament answered by adding clause (4) to Article 15, which permits special provision for the advancement of socially and educationally backward…

It amended Article 16(4A) so that a government servant of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes promoted under the reservation also keeps the seniority of the promoted post, which is called consequential seniority, and the change was given effect from 1995.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Second Amendment) Act, 2018 inserted Article 338B, which makes the National Commission for Backward Classes a constitutional body with the duty to investigate and monitor the safeguards provided to the socially and educationally backward classes; the same amendment added Article 342A for the central list…

The first Backward Classes Commission was appointed in 1953 under Article 340 with Kaka Saheb Kalelkar as its chairman, and it submitted its report in 1955; the report was not acted upon because its criteria for identifying backwardness were considered vague.

It empowers the President to appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes, the difficulties they face and the steps that should be taken to remove them, and both the Kalelkar Commission of 1953 and the Mandal Commission of 1979 were appointed under it.

It reserves seats in the House of the People, that is the Lok Sabha, for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, the number being in proportion to their population; there is no reservation of seats for the Other Backward Classes in Parliament.

A bench of five judges decided it in 2022 and upheld the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019, which provides up to ten per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections, by a majority of three to two.