Social justice has a peculiar, substantial and powerful content with a fundamental authority to bring equality in a society of unequal. Concept of social justice consists of diverse principles essential for the orderly growth and development of personality of every citizen. Indian Constitution mandates the State to accord justice to all members of the society in all facets of human activity. Ensuring equality alone will not help treat the situation and thus weak should be provided with some allowances and benefits for equality to be meaningful for them. In accordance with the provisions of Constitution welfare policy measures have been formulated and implemented with a view to ensure the upward mobility of the deprived sections of the Indian population. One of the most successful of these affirmative actions has been reservation which is used as a tool against social oppression and injustice against certain classes to ensure their social upliftment. The objective of reservation as envisioned by the founding fathers of Constitution was to ensure social justice by granting special status to backward classes as they were denied equal opportunities for generations and required special assistance to catch up with the other forward castes. It ensures level playing field for backward section to help them compete with those who have had access of resources and means for centuries. Reservation in education, employment, seats in legislature is now being increasingly seen as the only tool available for upward social mobility, for getting good jobs and stable sources of livelihood for the youth. Reservation is in consonance with Preamble of Constitution which provides social and economic justice elongated in fundamental rights and directive principles. Articles 38, 39 and 46 of Constitution requires the State as its economic policy to provide socio-economic justice to minimise inequalities in income and in opportunities and status and further stated that State is under the obligation to work for the welfare of society and to make socio-economic justice a reality, meaningful and fruitful so as to make life worth living with dignity.
In Ram Singh v. Union of India 2015 Supreme Court asserted that social deficiencies may exist beyond caste thus there is a need to evolve new yardsticks to move away from caste-centric definition of backwardness so that the list remains dynamic and most distressed can get benefit of affirmative action. Articles 15(6) and 16(6) have been inserted in Constitution through the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 which empowered the State to make special provision for advancement of any economically weaker sections (EWS) of citizens which are not covered under any reservation plan. The State is allowed to make provision for reservation of up to 10% of seats for such sections in admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the state, expect the minority educational institutions and also in respect of recruitment for civil posts and services in government. This reservation of up to 10% would be in addition to the existing reservations cap of 50% reservation for Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe and Other Backward Classes. Reservation can be given for a caste or class only and EWS of society constitutes a class in itself. Seats under EWS is reserved if annual household income is less than 8 Lakhs, owned agricultural land is below 5 acres, owned residential apartment is below 1000 square feet, owned residential land is not exceeding 100 yards or more in notified municipal area and 200 yards in non-notified municipal area and other indicators of economic disadvantage. 103rd Constitutional Amendment is a step towards overcoming the bar of Supreme Court on economic backwardness criteria and 50% ceiling on complete reservations.
Constitutional recognition to EWS for the first time as a vulnerable section is a departure from traditional centrality of caste in deciding affirmative action which will help gradually remove the stigma associated with reservation and minimise economic inequality. It is a progressive move that addresses the issues of educational and income inequality in India since unreserved poor class have remained excluded from attending higher educational institutional institutions and public employment due to their financial incapacity to compete with the persons who are economically more privileged. Thus, this reservation will help truly filter the economically deprived from the upper castes that are not protected under existing reservation programs and bring them all to justice. Though EWS reservation in jobs and education is a commendable step towards bringing economic equality but it is not sustainable game changers. Offering reservations has increasingly become tool for political gains in politics which affects its credibility as a tool for social justice. In common perception, reservation has become synonymous with anti-merit, which might get further ingrained in public psyche post EWS reservation. Also, the criteria used by the government to decide eligibility for this reservation is vague and is not based on any data or study to show under-representation. India being a country where taxable population is still low due to misrepresentation of income, implementing economic eligibility criteria would be a bureaucratic nightmare. There may also be demand from sections of SC/ST and OBC to introduce similar sub-categorisation, based on economic criteria within their respective quotas.
Growth of nation depends upon inclusiveness of all social groups including equal access to services provided by State and equal opportunity for upward economic and social mobility. Social justice is recognized uniquely with reservation in India which is an anti-thesis of sustainable development and justice. It is not a poverty upliftment programme but is meant to equal representation and status for all communities. It is promotion of social equality through preferential treatment of socio-economically disadvantaged sections of society. However, incidentally reservation has become a political essential as well as the scope of reservation is continually expanded in pursuit of electoral gains and not realising that it is not the panacea for problems. Reservation was a temporary policy measure adopted by framers of Constitution which should not be misconstrued and social justice must be achieved without jeopardising long-term efficiency. The logic of providing reservation to economically backward people can further be carefully extended to exclude creamy layers among SC/ST groups. Also, the way out of reservation dilemma is to create enabling environment for formalisation and creation of more and better jobs in private sector to cater to more aspirational India. In their present form reservation have become a serious issue that should attract attention of one and all interested in providing social justice to the really needy and in emergence of India as a casteless, fair and forward-looking society. If social justice is the cornerstone of reservation policy, India is at a point where it can only be achieved by establishing large scale jobs and educational possibilities and not by extending reservation along caste lines. A strong political will is indispensable to find equilibrium between justice to backwardness, equity for the forwards and efficiency for the entire system. Justice Ravindran in Ashok Kumar Thakur v. Union of India rightfully stated that “When more people aspire for backwardness rather than of forwardness, the country itself stagnates.”
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