Syllabus Section: Polity and Governance (GS Paper II)

Importance: UPSC Prelims

Why in News?

• During the Monsoon Session, MPs have raised questions about revising the criteria for defining the creamy layer among OBCs.

About:

What is the Issue?

• In March, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment forwarded to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) a draft to the Cabinet stating that,  the creamy layer will be determined on all income, including salary calculated for income tax, but not agriculture income.
• MPs, are protesting to not include salary and agriculture income while calculating annual family income to decide the creamy layer.

What is the creamy layer?

• It is a concept that sets a threshold within which OBC reservation benefits are applicable.
• There is a 27% quota for OBCs in government jobs and higher educational institutions, but those falling within the “creamy layer” cannot get the benefits of this quota.

 

• Second Backward Classes Commission (Mandal Commission), on August 13, 1990 had notified 27% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in vacancies in civil posts and services that are to be filled on direct recruitment. 
• Indira Sawhney case (16 November, 1991) upheld 27% reservation for OBCs, subject to exclusion of the creamy layer.

How is it determined?

• The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) listed out various categories of people of certain rank/status/income whose children cannot avail benefit of OBC reservation. These are:
  • People not in government:  income of Rs 8 lakh per year.
  • Children of Government Employees: Threshold is based on Parent’s Rank. Such as:

• If either of his or her parents is in a constitutional post
• If either parent has been directly recruited in Group-A
• If both parents are in Group-B services
• If the parents enter Group-A through promotion before the age of 40
  • Children of a Colonel or higher-ranked officer in the Army, and children of officers of similar ranks in the Navy and Air Force, too, come under the creamy layer

• There are other criteria’s as well

Note: Income from salaries or agriculture land is not clubbed while determining the creamy layer.

Problems related to Current Creamy Layer Concepts:

• Old Definition: The current definition of creamy layer remains the same as the DoPT had spelt out on September 8, 1993 and clarified on October 14, 2004. 
• Violative of Norms: DoPT had stipulated that income limit would be revised every three years. But
  • The first revision since September 8, 1993 (Rs 1 lakh per year) happened only on March 9, 2004 (Rs 2.50 lakh), followed by revisions In October 2008 (Rs 4.50 lakh), May 2013 (Rs 6 lakh) and September 13, 2017 (Rs 8 lakh)

Source: Indian Express