• What Is EWS Category?
The term “Economically Weaker Section” (EWS) in India refers to a subclass of persons who do not fall under any of the categories SC, ST, OBC, or MBC in Tamil Nadu yet have an annual family income of less than 8 lakh (US$10,000). An applicant is eligible for the EWS category if they meet the economic requirements and are not SC/ST/OBC.
In January 2019 a bill passed making it a law, people belonging to EWS Category will have a 10% reservation in government positions and academic institutions. This was Apart from the existing 50% reservations.
On January 10, 2019, Youth For Equality, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that opposes caste-based policies, filed a petition with the Supreme Court of India challenging the proposed amendment on the grounds that it violates the 50% cap on reservations set by the same court. The group stated that it fully supports EWS reservations but wants this to be done by converting the existing 27% OBC quota into an economic means-tested non-caste-based quota in order to stay within the 50% Leaders of charity organizations for Backward Classes also petitioned the Supreme Court in opposition to reservations for EWS groups, claiming that EWS groups did not fit the requirements for reservations that the same court had established in an earlier case.
While the eligibility requirements for EWS reservations in the union government programs are the same throughout the nation, the way they are implemented in different states varies. The EWS quota has been adopted by the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal.
• Eligibility Criteria
1. The candidate’s family must make less than Rs. 8 lakh annually.
2. The amount of agricultural land owned by their family cannot exceed 5 acres.
3. The residential apartment should not be more than 1000 square feet.
4. If the residential plot is located in a designated municipality sector, its size shall be less than 100 square yards.
5. If the residential plot is located in an unnotified municipality sector, its size should be less than 200 square yards.
The 10% reservation can be obtained with the EWS certificate.
• EWS Controversy
The government has notified the Supreme Court that it will reexamine the “criteria” for selecting members of the economically weaker sections (EWS) for reservation in educational institutions and employment.
The declaration came after a number of applications were filed challenging the EWS income threshold of Rs 8 lakh annually. The case arose in the context of NEET exam-based admission to medical colleges.
A number of petitions opposing the government and a medical counseling committee notification issued in July that allotted 10% of NEET admissions to the EWS group are currently being heard by the top court. A general category student or candidate who has a household income of less than Rs 800,000 per year is eligible under the EWS reservation, following the legislation approved by Parliament in January 2019.
The petitions raised a number of objections, including the violation of the 50% quota threshold imposed by a 1992 Supreme Court decision, the lack of research and justification regarding the EWS reservation criteria, and the government’s decision to include the EWS reservation in admission through NEET.
the government has decided to review the criteria for identifying the economically disadvantaged sections.
AIQ is the percentage of medical college seats that the union government receives from the state. States are now compelled to offer the Centre 50% of PG seats and 15% of medical undergrad seats. There was no OBC quota when the reservation for scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST) was imposed in this AIQ.
The government gave in to the other backward classes (OBC) long-standing demand for reservation in the AIQ in 2021 and added a 10% quota for the EWS.
Authorities predict that this addition will help 1,500 EWS students and 4,000 OBC students who are both pursuing undergraduate and graduate medical degrees.
People earning over Rs 8 lakh annually are not eligible for OBC reservation; they are referred to as the “creamy layer.” The cutoff for EWS is Rs 8 lakh. According to OBC experts, this shouldn’t be a requirement for the EWS quota.
In the current NEET instance, the OBC reservation needs to be seen by disconnecting the EWS reservation. The applicability of Rs. 8 lakh cannot be the same in both cases since the principles are completely different—the OBC creamy layer is an exclusionary rule, while the EWS is an inclusionary provision, according to Supreme Court counsel and OBC expert Shashank Ratnoo.
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