UPSC Key | Sub-classification of SC, ST, Creamy layer, Cloudbursts and more

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Explained

Sub-classification of SC, ST

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international significance

Mains Examination: GS-II: Constitution, Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

What’s the ongoing story- In a 6:1 ruling, the Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud permitted states to create sub-classifications within the SC and ST categories for the purpose of according wider protections — through fixed sub-quotas — to the most backward communities within these categories. This overturns the apex court’s 2004 decision in E V Chinnaiah v State of Andhra Pradesh, in which it had held that the SC/ST list is a “homogenous group” that cannot be divided further.

Prerequisites:

— What are the constitutional provisions for the protection of SC and ST?

— What is Article 361?

— What is the Presidential List of Scheduled Caste?

— What are the ‘doctrine of equality’ and ‘doctrine of classification’?

Key takeaways: 

— Article 341 of the Constitution allows the President, through a public notification, to list as SC “castes, races or tribes” that suffered from the historical injustice of untouchability. SC groups are jointly accorded 15% reservation in education and public employment.

— In earlier judgments, the court had held that any attempts to create a differentiation within the SC list would essentially amount to tinkering with it, for which the Constitution did not empower states.  Article 341 only empowers the President to issue such a notification, and Parliament to make additions or deletions to the list. The court also said that sub-classifying SCs violates the right to equality under Article 14.

— The seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court was formed to look into the following issues: (i) Are all castes in the SC list to be treated similarly? (ii) Can states ‘tinker’ with or sub-classify the Presidential list? (iii) What is the yardstick for sub-classification? (iv) Does the ‘creamy layer’ principle apply to Scheduled Caste?

— The court in E V Chinnaiah held that SC must be treated identically since the Constitution envisaged the same benefits for them, without taking into account their individual relative backwardness. In Thursday’s judgement, CJI Chandrachud rejected this premise, stating that “The inclusion [in the Presidential list] does not automatically lead to the formation of a uniform and internally homogenous class which cannot be further classified”.

— The CJI termed the Presidential list of SCs a “legal fiction” — something that does not exist in actuality but is “treated as real and existing for the purpose of law”.

— The court, in E V Chinnaiah, had held that the power under these articles was limited to providing quotas in education and public employment to the state’s backward classes. It held that once reservations have been provided to SCs as a whole, “it is not open to the State to sub-classify a class already recognised by the Constitution and allot a portion of the already reserved quota amongst the State created sub-class” within the SC list.

— On Thursday, the majority opinion held that “the State in exercise of its power under Articles 15 and 16 is free to identify the different degrees of social backwardness and provide special provisions (such as reservation) to achieve the specific degree of harm identified”.

— The majority opinion drew stringent redlines for states on how to work out the sub-quotas. States will have to demonstrate a need for wider protections, bring empirical evidence, and have a “reasonable” rationale for classifying sub-groups. This reasoning can be further be tested in court.

— Only the opinion of Justice Gavai bats for introducing the ‘creamy layer’ exception for SCs (and STs) that is already followed for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). This concept places an income ceiling on reservation eligibility, ensuring that the beneficiaries are those in a community that need quotas the most. Four of the seven judges — Justices Vikram Nath, Pankaj Mithal and Satish Chandra Sharma — agreed with Justice Gavai’s opinion on the matter.

For Your Information:

The Editorial Page

— Yogendra Yadav and Prannv Dhawan write: The judgment authored by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud appreciates the import of distributive justice within the extremely heterogeneous Scheduled Castes. It affirms that equal protection of the law is not a rule that forbids both “the beggar and the king” from begging in the streets.

— By shedding the formal legalism that underlay E V Chinnaiah, the court has demonstrated sensitivity towards the most disadvantaged sections within the Scheduled Castes and charts the course for resolving their historic grievances.

—  The landmark judgment like this is bound to be disputed both in legal and political circles. This might be seen as the thin end of the wedge that may lead to dilution of the affirmative-action regime. Politically, it may be seen as aiding the current regime’s designs to divide Dalits. Frankly, both these readings ignore the ground reality of internal differences and discrimination accompanied by political resentment among the most disadvantaged Dalit communities.

— Those committed to the policies and politics of social justice must not push such issues under the carpet. Instead, they should welcome this judgment and demand careful evidence-based identification of the most disadvantaged communities and provisions to ensure that the sub-division and the creamy layer do not become a route to divert SC/ST quota seats to non-reserved categories.

Points to Ponder: 

— What are the arguments for and against the sub-classification of SC, and ST?

— What is the debate about the ‘creamy layer’ in SC, and ST reservations?

— What is the socio-economic status of SC and ST in India?

— Why reservations for SC and ST were introduced?

Post Read Question:

What are the two major legal initiatives by the State since Independence addressing discrimination against Scheduled Tribes (STs). (UPSC CSE 2017)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

Milestone after Mandal: Supreme Court allows new quotas within SC/ST quota

Identifying the ‘creamy layer’: model of OBC reservation

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international significance

Mains Examination: GS-II: Constitution

What’s the ongoing story- The Supreme Court on Thursday (August 1) permitted sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for the purpose of granting separate quotas for those more backward within these communities.

Justice B R Gavai, in his opinion, wrote that “the State must evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer even from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes so as to exclude them from the benefit of affirmative action”.

Prerequisites:

— What is the principle of ‘creamy layer’?

— What are the constitutional provisions for OBC reservation?

— Constitutional Articles: 14, 15, and 16

Key takeaways: 

— The concept of a creamy layer arose out of the landmark Indra Sawhney ruling in 1992. Based on the recommendation of the Mandal Commission, the V P Singh government on August 13, 1990, had notified 27% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (OBC reservation) in civil posts and services. This was challenged in the Supreme Court by Indra Sawhney and others.

— On November 16, 1992, a nine-judge Bench headed by Justice B P Jeevan Reddy, upheld the 27% OBC reservation subject to exclusion of the creamy layer, or the more socially, economically, and educationally advanced members among OBCs. This was done in order to ensure that reservation benefits go to those who need it the most.

— The creamy layer is not the same as sub-classification or sub-categorisation. The latter refers to community/caste wise breakdown of a reserved category (like SC) based on various socio-economic or other criteria. Creamy layer, however, refers to a group of people within a certain caste/community who are better off than the rest based on certain criteria.

— The logic of determining the creamy layer was made by an expert committee headed by the retired Justice Ram Nandan Prasad, which was constituted following the Indra Sawhney judgement.

— In his opinion, Justice Gavai stated that “the criteria for exclusion of the creamy layer from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for the purpose of affirmative action could be different from the criteria as applicable to the Other Backward Classes”. However, he stopped short of providing a definitive criteria for how this determination may be made.

— Justice Pankaj Mithal in passing hinted at one possible criteria that might be used. He said, in his opinion, that “It has rightly been observed that a child studying in St Stephen’s College or any good urban college cannot be equated with a child studying in a rural school/college and that he cannot be grouped into the same bracket.”

— Compared to OBCs, the SC creamy layer issue is fraught. Despite the benefits of affirmative action, can the historic injustices of caste be wiped out? For OBCs the economic and social criteria perhaps allows upward mobility from backwardness but the same cannot be said for SCs and STs.

For Your Information:

— A crucial aspect of the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict empowering states to make sub-classifications within the Scheduled Caste (SC) category is that the court has held that such a process has to be undertaken based on “quantifiable and demonstrable data” on the levels of backwardness and representation in government services and education institutions and not on “whims or as a matter of political expediency”.

— Caste-wise population and caste-wise representation are two basic data sets required to decide sub-groups. While SCs and Scheduled Tribes are enumerated during the Census — last held in 2011 — there has not been any effort to gather data on caste-wise representation in government jobs and educational institutions.

Points to Ponder: 

— What was the reason for the formation of the Mandal Commission?

— What is the need for a caste census?

— What are the arguments in favour and against the ‘creamy layer’ in ST and SC reservations?

Post Read Question:

(1). Which of the following committees was appointed to determine the creamy layer in OBC that submitted its report in 1993?

(a) Ram Nandan Committee

(b) G V Mavlankar Committee

(c) Swaran Singh Committee

(d) K M Munshi Committee

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

As Supreme Court allows SC sub-classification, lessons from past OBC exercises

 

Front

Himachal cloudbursts: five dead, 50 missing, road to Manali damaged

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international significance

Mains Examination: GS-I, III: Geography, Disaster Management

What’s the ongoing story- Heavy rain on Friday forced authorities to stop the rescue operation to trace around 36 people who have been missing after a cloudburst in the Samej Khad area of Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla district before resuming the search. So far, the rescue teams have not been able to locate any of the missing persons, making their relatives more anxious.

Prerequisites:

— What are cloudbursts?

— What are flash floods?

Key takeaways: 

— The cloudbursts — in Malana, Sainj and Nirmand areas of Kullu, Rampur in the state capital Shimla, and Padhar in Mandi district — also triggered flash floods that washed away several buildings, bridges, and roads cutting off several areas.

For Your Information:

— A cloudburst is a localised but intense rainfall activity. Short spells of very heavy rainfall over a small geographical area can cause widespread destruction, especially in hilly regions where this phenomenon is the most common.

— Not all instances of very heavy rainfall, however, are cloudbursts. A cloudburst has a very specific definition: Rainfall of 10 cm or more in an hour over a roughly 10 km x 10-km area is classified as a cloudburst event. By this definition, 5 cm of rainfall in a half- hour period over the same area would also be categorized as a cloudburst.

— Because of the nature of the terrain, the heavy rainfall events often trigger landslides and flash floods, causing extensive destruction downstream. This is the reason why every sudden downpour that leads to the destruction of life and property in the hilly areas gets described as a “cloudburst”, irrespective of whether the amount of rainfall meets the defining criteria.

Points to Ponder: 

— What is the effect of cloudburst?

— Why are hilly areas more prone to cloudbursts?

— What are the mitigation strategies for cloudburst?

Post Read Question:

Prelims

(2). “Each day is more or less the same, the morning is clear and bright with a sea breeze; as the Sun climbs high In the sky, heat mounts up, dark clouds form, then rain comes with thunder and lightning. But rain is soon over.” Which of the following regions is described in the above passage? (UPSC CSE 2015)

(a) Savannah

(b) Equatorial

(c) Monsoon

(d) Mediterranean

Mains

Discuss the causes and effects of cloudbursts, and suggest measures to prevent and mitigate their devastating impacts.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

Explained: What are cloudburst incidents and are they rising across India?

Heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh: When is high rainfall termed as a ‘cloudburst’?

The Ideas Page

When the clouds gather

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international significance

Mains Examination: GS-I, III: Geography, Infrastructure, Disaster Management

What’s the ongoing story- Kaushik Das Gupta writes: After heavy rains submerged large parts of Delhi and adjoining NCR cities on Wednesday, paralysing traffic and taking a toll of lives — not for the first time in the last two months — the question that inevitably arises is: Why are Indian cities never prepared for the monsoon? Among the many seemingly complicated reasons for their troubled relationship with the rains is a rather unglamorous term – drainage system.

Prerequisites:

— What is urban flooding?

Key takeaways: 

— Most of the past cities that make up Delhi were situated on an elevated plane, which allowed them to flush out water. But town planning in the Lutyens and post-Lutyens eras has followed a radial or block pattern. Urban expansion, and infrastructure creation, have rarely followed the natural contours and inclines of the city — these often change every few kilometres — which provides an outlet to the run-off.

— The neglect of hydrology has pushed cities with vastly different geological features — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru for instance — towards similar water-related predicaments.

— Climate change affects everyone. It’s well-known, however, that the brunt of floods, heat waves, and extreme cold is borne by the poor and the lower-middle classes. Infrastructure development in urban India has not done justice to these sections, even though the political class knows the power of their votes.

— Master plans rarely factor in informal settlements, including slums and dwellings of communities that build cities. The waste from urban underbellies, outside the sewerage network, finds its way to the stormwater drainage system and clogs it. A furious spell of rainfall often means an invasion of murky water into homes in these invisibilised localities, bringing in their wake disease and livelihood disruptions.

— In pre-modern Delhi, rivulets and small streams once carried fresh water from the Aravallis, and during the monsoons they became stormwater outlets, swiftly draining Delhi dry within a few hours of heavy rainfall. Today, they are either built upon or are ganda nallahs. One such water course, the Jarhallia Nallah in Karol Bagh, a few kilometres from Rajinder Nagar, became one of these ganda nallahs. Today, it has been covered.

— In the wake of the coaching centre tragedy, welcome conversations have begun on regulating commercial buildings, urban infrastructure, and even desilting drains. More needs to be done. Planners need to join the dots between drainage system, hydrology, climate change-induced weather vagaries, and the inexorable pull of cities as centres of upward mobility – and their inequities.

Points to Ponder: 

— What are the reasons for urban flooding?

— What is the impact of urban flooding?

— What changes need to be made in the drainage infrastructure to tackle the climate-induced weather events?

Post Read Question:

(3). Contour bunding is a method of soil conservation used in (UPSC CSE 2013)

(a) desert margins, liable to strong wind action

(b) low flat plains, close to stream courses, liable to flooding

(c) scrublands, liable to spread of weed growth

(d) None of the above

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

Interlinked drains to multiple agencies: What’s behind Delhi’s perennial waterlogging problem

Govt & Politics

Vietnamese PM by his side, Modi takes dig at China: We don’t support expansionism

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international significance

Mains Examination: GS-II: International Relations

What’s the ongoing story- With an eye on Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh Thursday underlined the importance of “non-militarisation and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities” to avoid the escalation of disputes in the region.

Prerequisites:

— What is the significance of the South China Sea?

— What is the Act East Policy?

— What is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)?

Key takeaways: 

— More than 55 per cent of world trade crosses through the South China Sea and New Delhi is concerned about potential disruptions.

— “In our Act East policy and our Indo-Pacific vision, Vietnam is our important partner… We support development, not expansionism (Hum vistarbad nahi, vikasvad ka samarthan karte hain),” Modi said in Hindi in his statement.

— “Both leaders emphasised the legal framework set out by the UNCLOS within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out, and that UNCLOS is the basis for determining maritime entitlements, sovereign rights, jurisdiction and legitimate interests over maritime zones,” the joint statement said.

For Your Information:

— Vietnam knows that peace with neighbours and cooperation with all is indispensable for creating a future of happiness for its people. “If the country is independent but its people don’t have happiness and freedom, then independence is meaningless”. These sage words of Ho Chi Minh, the father of the nation, serve as the guiding principle for the ruling communist party and its government.

— To secure peace, in 2019, it wisely adopted a defence policy of “Four Nos” — No to joining any military alliance; no to siding with one country to counter another; no to foreign military bases or use of Vietnam’s territory to counter a third country; and no to use of or threat of force in international relations.

— “The people and government of Vietnam are very happy that India is rising as a major power in Asia and the world. Yet, New Delhi seems more comfortable looking west than east. If it wants to reap the enormous opportunities Vietnam provides — and also if it wants to enlarge its influence in the wider Indo-China and ASEAN region — India should not only Act East, but also Act Fast.”

Points to Ponder: 

— What is the status of India’s relationship with Vietnam?

— What is the significance of the Act East Policy?

— What is the significance of the Indo-Pacific region for India?

— What is the role of India in maintaining peace in the South China Sea?

Post Read Question:

Evaluate the economic and strategic dimensions of India’s Look East Policy in the context of the post-Cold War international scenario. (UPSC CSE 2016)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

India must strengthen ties with Vietnam

 

Express Network

Unscientific work by NHAI led to Shirur landslide: Report

UPSC Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: GS-I, III: Geography, Disaster Management

What’s the ongoing story- A preliminary report by a technical team looking into the causes of the July 16 landslide in coastal Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district has listed “unscientific” construction of National Highway (NH) 66 by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), combined with heavy rainfall in a short span of time, among factors responsible for the disaster.

Prerequisites:

— What are the reasons for landslides?

— What are Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and Public Private Partnership (PPP) models?

Key takeaways: 

— At 8.30 am on July 16, a massive landslide brought down a torrent of mud and debris at Shirur village in Akola, destroying the Karwar-Mangaluru portion of the 1,640-km highway, which connects Maharashtra’s Panvel with Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.

— The picturesque two-lane highway has the hills of the Western Ghats on one side and the Gangavali river on the other. According to the NHAI, road building company IRB Infrastructure was in 2013 picked as the concessionaire to build the highway. Construction was completed in 2020 and the same year, NHAI started collecting tolls.

— In its preliminary report submitted to the NHAI and state government, a team from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has, while assessing the landslide, pointed to the “unscientific” work done by the NHAI on this stretch.

— The report states that natural drainage flows were disturbed when slope modifications were carried out to build the highway. “The steep gradient of the cut slope, presence of highly weathered rock, thick debris, saturation due to rainfall and lack of toe support (the distance between the edge of the highway and the beginning of the slope, a key factor while designing stable slopes along highways) are the primary causative factors of the debris flow.

— Intense rainfall acted as the trigger for the landslide. The high relief and overburden material in the hill slope suggest that retrogression of the slide is probable during prolonged rainfall,” states the report.

— In the report, the GSI team has suggested both immediate and long-term measures to prevent further damage, including that no further modification should be carried out to the hill slope and a comprehensive geotechnical investigation to determine appropriate slope stabilisation strategies for the Shirur site.

For Your Information:

— Environmentalists say Uttara Kannada’s coastal areas and ghats receive a high 3,500-4,000 mm of rain per annum, making it a challenge to execute infrastructure projects. Given these difficulties, they believe it is imperative for government agencies to assess terrain conditions before executing road projects.

Points to Ponder: 

— What are the impacts of landslides?

— What is the debate between environmental conservation and economic development?

— What are the implications of unscientific infrastructure development projects?

Post Read Question:

(4). Gangavali river flows through which of the following state?

(a) Bihar

(b) Rajasthan

(c) Uttar Pradesh

(d) Karnataka

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

The hypocrisy of the environment vs development debate

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