Revision of creamy layer criteria delayed by over 1 yr

Revision of creamy layer criteria delayed by over 1 yr

Subodh.Ghildiyal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:25.10.2021

In continuing disappointment for the other backward classes (OBCs), the scheduled revision of the income ceiling for ‘creamy layer’ has overshot by more than one year.

The delay is affecting the ‘Mandal castes’ who are being judged by a lower income bar than they should be for being declared as economically better off and ineligible for reservations.

The income ceiling is the eligibility criteria for OBCs to avail reservations in central government jobs and educational institutions. Candidates from families earning more than the ceiling amount are dubbed ‘creamy layer’ who are not entitled to avail opportunities under the 27% quota.

The income ceiling is to be revised every three years and was last hiked from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh in September 2017. The bar was up for upward review in September 2020 but is still hanging fire. The social justice ministry has proposed a hike from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 12 lakh. But the revision is stuck because the government has clubbed the routine hike with the plan to redefine the criteria for ‘creamy layer’, with both the proposals placed in the same cabinet note which was circulated in February, 2020.

While it was expected to sail through, roadblocks came up because the second point about the revision of criteria drew objections from the National Commission for Backward Classes.

The ministry has proposed to include ‘salary’ of an OBC household in its ‘gross annual income’ which is the cut-off mark for creamy layer. This is contrary to the 1993 office memorandum of DoPT which says that ‘salary’ and ‘agriculture income’ are not part of ‘income’ to determine ‘creamy layer’. If the move goes through, it will lower the bar and make it easier for an OBC to be identified as ‘creamy layer’ — thereby ineligible for quotas.