NO PROVISION FOR CREAMY LAYERS IN SC/ST QUOTA: CENTRE

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently stated that the Constitution, as drafted by BR Ambedkar, doesn’t include a provision for a creamy layer within the reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

- NIVEDITA MUKHERJEE

He emphasized that the NDA government is committed to upholding the Constitution as it stands.

Vaishnaw’s comments come in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows states to sub-classify SCs and STs. The Court also noted that states can develop a policy to identify and exclude the creamy layer within these groups from the benefits of affirmative action.

Before this, the Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, engaged in a thorough discussion regarding the Supreme Court’s judgment on the sub-categorization of reservations for SCs and STs as laid out in the Constitution.