Reservation

Background and evolution

Reservation has roots in the colonial period. The Maharaja of Kolhapur, Shahu, reserved posts for backward classes in 1902, and the Government of India Act 1935 provided separate representation for the "depressed classes" after the Poona Pact of 1932 between Gandhi and Ambedkar replaced separate electorates with reserved seats in joint electorates. The framers of the Constitution saw reservation as a way to make formal equality real for groups excluded by caste for centuries.

The Constitution originally provided for reserved seats for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies and permitted reservation in public posts. After the Supreme Court struck down caste-based reservation in medical colleges in State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan (1951), the First Amendment added Article 15(4). The Mandal Commission (1980) recommended 27% reservation for OBCs, implemented by the V.P. Singh government in 1990, which led to protests and the landmark Indra Sawhney judgment of 1992.

Key features and provisions

• Educational reservation: Article 15(4) and 15(5) (the latter added by the 93rd Amendment, 2005, covering private unaided institutions except minority ones).
• Job reservation: Article 16(4) for backward classes inadequately represented; 16(4A) for promotions of SCs and STs; 16(4B) carry-forward of unfilled vacancies.
• Political reservation: Articles 330 and 332 for SCs and STs in legislatures, extended periodically; Articles 243D and 243T for panchayats and municipalities.
• Creamy layer: better-off OBCs excluded from benefits, based on income and status criteria.
• 50% ceiling: set by Indra Sawhney, with exceptions in extraordinary situations; the EWS quota operates outside it.
• Sub-classification: in 2024 a seven-judge bench allowed states to sub-classify SCs and STs to give priority to the most backward.
• Women's reservation: the 106th Amendment provides one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and assemblies, to take effect after delimitation following the next Census.