DECIPHERING QUOTAS

These Seats are Reserved by Abhinav Chandrachud, a lawyer practising at the Bombay High Court, explains the history of the affirmative action provisions in the Indian Constitution and demystifies the complex set of rules and procedures through which these clauses are put into operation.

- Rohit De

THESE SEATS ARE RESERVED Caste, Quotas and the Constitution of India

by Abhinav Chandrachud

PENGUIN VIKING

₹599; 272 pages

Self-consciously addressing the upper caste reader, it takes on oft-repeated assumptions like the idea that the various reservations are antimerit, or are a product of vote bank politics. The first half traces the history of constitutionalising reservation history, beginning with the activism of Jyotiba Phule and moving through to the enactment of the 103rd amendment of the Constitution which gives 10 per cent reservation to the “economically weaker sections” of upper castes. The latter half offers valuable clarity to the “bewildering complexity” of law governing reservation by analysing constitutional amendments and judicial pronouncements. The Indian project of equality through affirmative action is an “original contribution” to constitutional law globally, particularly in its clear aim to redress centuries of oppression and to transform society. Written in accessible prose, These Seats are Reserved makes the history and current debates over reservation legible to the layman.