Abstract

India’s reservation policy, rooted in the Constitution, aims to address historical injustices and socio-economic disparities faced by marginalized communities, particularly Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). SCs constitute 16.6% of India’s population, while STs, often referred to as India’s indigenous population, make up 8.6%.[1]Despite India’s development through the decades, SCs and STs continue to experience significant discrimination and exclusion. SCs are hindered by social discrimination based on the entrenched caste hierarchy, thus, limiting their access to economic and social benefits. On the other hand, the ST population remains isolated due to their geographic remoteness and distinct cultural, dialectal, and linguistic characteristics, preventing them from integrating into mainstream society. Article 14 guarantees equality before the law[2], and reservations are a tool to ensure substantive equality. Reservation policies, or affirmative action[3], were instituted to mitigate these disparities by ensuring reserved seats in educational institutions and the employment sector for SCs, STs, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). This research paper aims to analyze the effectiveness of reservation policies in uplifting the position of these groups in society.

Keywords: SCs, STs, OBCs, Reservations, Article 14, Equality, Education, Employment

[1]Government of India, “Census of India, 2011” (Ministry of Home Affairs, Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, 2011).

[2]The Constitution of India, art. 14.

[3]“Affirmative action” refers to the use of policies, legislation, programs, and procedures to improve the educational or employment opportunities of members of certain demographic groups (such as minority groups, women, and older people) as a remedy to the effects of long-standing discrimination against such groups (Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster,

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affirmative%20action. Accessed 19 May. 2024).