Ews reservation for obc sc st

The economically weaker section (EWS) is the section of the society in India that belongs to the un-reserved category and has an annual family income of less than 8 lakh rupees. This category includes people that do not belong to the caste categories of ST/SC/OBC who already enjoy the benefits of reservation.

It is a travesty that for the first time in India, the groups that have the highest proportion of below poverty line individuals are excluded from the Economically Weaker Section reservation that is, in principle, meant to target economic deprivation regardless of caste.

EWS Reservation Is Very Much A Caste-Based Quota

The Supreme Court on November 7, 2022 upheld the validity of reservation in public employment and education for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), specified as persons not already covered under the existing 49.5% reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), and whose family's gross annual income is below Rs 800,000 and eligibility based on property ownership. The 103rd Constitutional Amendment bringing about the EWS reservation had been passed by Parliament in January 2019, and was subsequently challenged in court by multiple petitioners. The apex court's judgement clarified that SCs, STs and OBCS were excluded from EWS reservation, lest they receive "extra or excessive advantage".