Reservation policy, affirmative action, and the ongoing debates around social justice in India.
India's reservation policy provides reserved seats in education, public employment, and legislatures for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), rooted in the constitutional recognition (Articles 15(4), 16(4)) that formal equality alone cannot overcome centuries of entrenched social disadvantage.
In the landmark Indra Sawhney case (1992) — the "Mandal case" — the Supreme Court upheld OBC reservations but capped total reservations at 50%, with exceptions allowed only in extraordinary circumstances. This ceiling remains a central point of legal and political debate, especially as new groups seek reservation status.
The 103rd Constitutional Amendment (2019) introduced a 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections among those not covered by existing SC/ST/OBC reservations — a significant shift toward economic criteria alongside the traditional caste-based framework, and notably an exception to the 50% ceiling (upheld by the Supreme Court in 2022).
Key debates include whether reservation should incorporate a "creamy layer" exclusion (already applied to OBCs, excluding relatively better-off members from reservation benefits), demands for sub-categorisation within OBC/SC reservation to ensure more equitable distribution among sub-groups, and periodic demands from various communities for inclusion in reserved categories.
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