ECONOMIC QUOTA ELIGIBILITY NORMS Rs 8 lakh criterion remains

BASANT KUMAR MOHANTY, TT, 22 Jan 2019, New Delhi: The government officially announced a gross annual family income below Rs 8 lakh as the criterion to identify the newly created economically weaker sections among people so far left out of reservation, ending speculation about lowering the bar.

The department of personnel and training revealed the income cut-off in a notification on Saturday. It mentioned four other criteria that, if met by a candidate's family, would disqualify him or her from the poor quota.

These are: possessing five acres or more of farmland, or a residential flat of 1,000 square feet or more, or a residential plot of 100 square yards or more in a municipal area, or a residential plot of 200 square yards or more in a non-municipal area.

The government brought in the 124th amendment to the Constitution to provide for the 10 per cent economic quota in education and government jobs.

Under the existing reservation policy, the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes are entitled to 15 per cent, 7.5 per cent and 27 per cent reservation in college admissions and jobs.

The DoPT notification defines "family" as the candidate, his or her parents, and his or her spouse.

"The income shall include income from all sources i.e. salary, agriculture, business, profession, etc, and it will be income for the financial year prior to the year of application," the notification said.

These same "proposed criteria" had been circulated among the media by government sources when the bill was passed earlier this month. As critics argued that the broad criteria would cover large sections of the upper castes, sources indicated that the income cut-off might be reduced.

However, the government has stuck to Rs 8 lakh criterion that is used to identify the "creamy layer" among the OBCs too. But in case of the OBC creamy layer, the original order of 1993 said that income from salary and agriculture cannot be included.