The Union Cabinet on Monday approved a Constitution Amendment Bill to provide 10% reservation to economically backward sections in the general category, a senior government official said. The quota will be over and above the existing 50% reservation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBC). The reservation is for those castes who presently do not avail reservation in any category. A nine-judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court had in the Indira Sawhney case capped the reservation at 50%. The population of the Scheduled Castes was 201.4 million and that of the Scheduled Tribes stood at 104.3 million.

Source: The Hindu January 07, 2019 09:43 UTC