The OBC Reservation and the Creamy Layer

Subject: Polity

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

The Reservation System in India for Backward Classes:

In 1954 and 1979, the Ministry of Education and the Mandal Commission suggested that a certain percentage should be reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Schedule Tribes (STs), and the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in education as well as employment. These policies were introduced keeping in mind that caste disparities would dissolve over time.

What is the creamy layer?

It is a concept that sets a threshold within which OBC reservation benefits are applicable.
While there is a 27% quota for OBCs in government jobs and higher educational institutions, those falling within the “creamy layer” cannot get the benefits of this quota.
Based on the recommendation of the Second Backward Classes Commission (Mandal Commission), the government 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.
After this was challenged, the Supreme Court on November 16, 1992 (Indira Sawhney case) upheld 27% reservation for OBCs, subject to exclusion of the creamy layer.

How is it determined?

Following the order in Indra Sawhney, an expert committee headed by Justice (retired) R N Prasad was constituted for fixing the criteria for determining the creamy layer.
On September 8, 1993, 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.
- For those not in government, the current threshold is an income of Rs 8 lakh per year.
- For children of government employees, the threshold is based on their parents’ rank and not income. For instance, an individual is considered to fall within the creamy layer if
  - either of his or her parents is in a constitutional post;
  - either parent has been directly recruited in Group-A;
  - Both parents are in Group-B services.
  - the parents enter Group-A through promotion before the age of 40, their children will be in the creamy layer.
  - 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.

Has it ever been revised?

Other than the income limit, 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.
The income limit has been revised over the years. While the DoPT had stipulated that it would be revised every three years, 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). It is now more than three years since the last revision.