One of the many contentious issues that cropped up in the wake of introducing the 10 percent quota for general category was the criteria to define the ‘economically weak’.
For instance, many experts felt that the cap of annual family income of Rs 8 lakh was too high for a country like India, and will effectively bring the ‘not-so-poor’ into the reservation fold.
Perplexed? Let’s break this down.
On Monday, 7 January, the day the Union Cabinet approved the 10 percent quota, news agency ANI quoted Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawarchand Gehlot as saying that the reservation is meant for those whose annual family income is less than Rs 8 lakh and who own less than 5 acres of agricultural land.
Over the next 24 hours, as the development became the prime-time news, media outlets including news agencies reported the following eligibility criteria to avail the reservation:
The closest the Bill comes to spelling out the criteria is where it says “...economically weaker sections shall be such as may be notified by the State from time to time on the basis of family income and other indicators of economic disadvantage.”
While introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Gehlot echoes the above mentioned document and does not talk about any specific criteria either.
A report by The Indian Express on this notification quotes a ministry official as saying, “An office memorandum, so as to operationalise the law, will be issued later this week. The income criteria will be defined in that.”
The report, if true, puts more emphasis on the question that what after all is “the upper limit set by the Centre”.
As far as the states are concerned, on 14 January, Gujarat became the first one to announce that it would implement the 10 percent quota.
But even in this case, there is no clarity on the criteria. A Times of India report on this development says that a government circular detailing income criteria of beneficiaries and other parameters of implementation of the quota is yet to be issued.
The confusion over the criteria seems to be present even at official levels. In order to seek clarity, The Quint reached out to Sitanshu Kar, Principal DG of Press Information Bureau (PIB). When asked what might be the source of the criteria floating around the media he said, “I don’t know. I saw it in the newspapers”.
The response, kind of, sums it all up.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)