EWS quota: Govt tried ‘edu handicap’ plea to push age concession for upper castes

Subodh.Ghildiyal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:04.04.2020

As the government has a rethink on the proposal to relax the eligibility age in employment for upper castes under the 10% quota, it now emerges that social justice ministry tried to overcome the hurdle of the economically weaker sections’ “competitiveness” by arguing that the poor suffer from an educational handicap and should be provided relief.

Age relaxation and increase in number of attempts for job examinations for poor upper castes is a contentious issue. The social justice ministry (MSJ), as reported by TOI, has withdrawn the Cabinet proposal it had circulated this February.

When MSJ’s proposal was first red-flagged in August 2019, the DoPT said that age relaxation could only be given after observing if a particular quota was being filled or not. It even cited the time lag between the implementation of SC/ST/ OBC quota and the provision of age-attempt relaxation to these categories.

“A candidate because of his poor financial background would not be able to access and afford better education and complete the qualifying degree within the normal limit of age as mandated by the government at present. He/she would be able to complete education and obtain qualifying degree only after taking additional number of years. It is, therefore, felt that he/she would be able to get the true intended benefit of EWS reservation only if the age relaxation of 3 years as available to OBCs is provided in direct recruitment to Central government jobs,” argued the Cabinet note, seen by the TOI. As it appears, the reasoning tried to undercut the argument about the EWS’s competitiveness.