BY SAARANG CHARI ‘26
Since its creation in 1949, the Indian Constitution has contained provisions for promoting social and economic equality through affirmative action in a deeply unequal society. . Affirmative action in India is not wholly unlike its counterpart in the US – it aims to increase the representation of historically marginalised groups in public institutions and in fields such as education, healthcare, banking, insurance, and the like. While affirmative action in the US focuses on issues of racial and gender-based discrimination, in India it has historically focused on that of caste[1]based discrimination. This is implemented by the provision of “Reservation Quotas”, through which a percentage of places in public or state institutions are reserved for people belonging to communities classified as Scheduled-Caste (SC), Scheduled[1]Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC). In 2019, however, the constitution was amended by the Hindu nationalist government to include a new category under this system of Reservation – the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. This addition is significant because it deviates from the historical function of affirmative action in India. Instead of addressing caste-based inequality , EWS was designed to address class-based inequality. The introduction of economic/class based affirmative action has produced new tensions in Indian politics. Anti-caste Dalit activists, however, argue that by the inclusion of a broad category of citizens defined as Economically Weaker Sections of society is a ruse designed to mask the interests of privileged castes who have historically been anti-Dalit and been opposed to affirmative action for Dalits. Amidst these protests, in November of 2022, the Supreme Court of India upheld the constitutional validity of EWS in a 3-2 verdict. The anti-Dalit thrust of EWS-based affirmative action is apparent from how it has been implemented by the Hindu majoritarian Bhartiya Janata Party government, which enjoys widespread support from upper caste and upper and middle class Indians.
Primarily, while the EWS feigns to represent “class inequality”, it is clearly divided on caste lines. Instead of representing the economically weaker sections of India as a whole, it only includes the “general category”. The general category refers to all of the caste-communities that do not come under SC, ST, or OBC categories. Thus, by solely representing the “forward castes”, the thinly veiled argument for the supposed concern for class inequality dissolves for what it truly is – a form of reservation for the “non-beneficiaries of reservations”, the upper castes. Dalit activist Suraj Yengde thus questions the claim that the EWS it is creating a process for establishing social democracy. Rather, he says, “Looking at the evidence, it seems that the beneficiaries of the EWS will be used to channel further hatred towards the SCs, STs, and OBCs as incompetent and undeserving of the caste[1]based reservation.”
Such rhetoric of hatred, which is critical of caste-based reservation, is not only prevalent in the public but also within the discourse of politicians and members of the judiciary. Notably, Justice J. B. Pardiwala, one of the justices from the bench of the Supreme Court evaluating the constitutional validity of EWS has said, “If I am asked by anyone to name two things, which has destroyed this country or rather, has not allowed the country, to progress in the right direction, then the same is – Reservation and Corruption.”
The embeddedness of this rhetoric in the implementation of the EWS is further apparent based on the judiciary’s decision to change the poverty index. By creating a ceiling of eight hundred thousand INR for qualification within the EWS category, the index includes a majority of the population. Thus, activist Asang Wankhede states that this high-income ceiling “would ensure that middle classes, and not the poorest, end up syphoning the benefits.” This solidifies the argument that EWS is simply a form of caste-based reservation for the upper castes while masquerading to be a new form of class-based reservation.
