India’s top court backs Modi’s job quota move

New Delhi: India’s Supreme Court endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move to reserve 10 per cent of government jobs and seats in educational institutions for “economically weaker” people who don’t fall in other affirmative action categories.

A five-judge bench said on Monday that the government’s decision in 2019 didn’t violate the constitution, and the reservation system could be extended to any weaker class in society.

The verdict could yield political benefits for Modi at a time when he is aggressively campaigning for elections in Himachal Pradesh and his home state Gujarat. The poll results due in December could set the ground for Modi’s re-election for a third term in 2024.

The decision follow years of legal challenges related to the government’s action to reserve a part of all government jobs and seats in schools and colleges for those who are poor but belong to the upper strata of Hinduism’s complex caste structure.

The announcement, which came just before the last general election, was seen as Modi’s plan to please unemployed youth. But it became controversial, with some saying that the program was discriminatory as it excluded people from disadvantaged groups.

India has been using the system of setting aside a part of jobs and seats in educational institutions for underprivileged tribes, lower-caste people and some backward classes to tackle the problem of discrimination based on caste, a millennia-old social hierarchy in India rooted in Hinduism.

Identity and caste-based groups have been demanding fresh quotas as formal jobs remain scanty and quality of education suffers. The affirmative action also has become a tool for politicians to get votes. The top court has capped reservations in jobs and education at 50 per cent.