Annual income ceiling up Rs 2 lakh for creamy layer

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New Delhi, Oct 3 : The government on Friday increased the annual income ceiling of Rs 2.5 lakh for the creamy layer to Rs 4.5 lakh, a development that will bring more people under OBC reservation fold, even as Lok Sabha elections are due next year.

Creamy layer of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), as per a Supreme Court direction, is not eligible for reservation for admission in central education institutions.

The decision to raise the ceiling was taken by the Union Cabinet at its meeting here. “The decision would be communicated to the ministry of human resource development (HRD) and department of personnel and training (DoPT) to enable them issue appropriate orders to central educational institutions and government departments,” information and broadcasting minister PR Dasmunsi said.

The decision has been taken on a proposal sent by ministry of social justice and empowerment on the basis of recommendations of the National Commission for Backward Classes. The proposal was discussed at an inter-governmental level, involving the ministries of tribal affairs, home, DoPT, law and HRD besides social justice and empowerment.

In 1993, the ceiling for reservation for OBCs was fixed for the first time at Rs 1 lakh, which was moved up to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2004. In 2006, the government proposed 27% reservation for OBCs in central educational institutions, but the decision snowballed into a controversy with many activists approaching the Supreme Court, which in turn questioned the eligibility criteria used for reservation.

Earlier this year, the SC directed that the creamy layer of OBCs should be kept out of reservation. The creamy layer criteria, however, does not apply to reservation for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

In another decision, the government approved proposals to establish 12 central universities and starting a scheme to provide ‘quality education’ in Madrassas. The new varsities will come up in Bihar, Orissa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Centre will also convert four universities into central universities. These varsities are Sagar University in Madhya Pradesh, Bilaspur University in Chhattisgarh, Garhwal University in Uttarakhand and Goa University.

The implementation of this programme would start after approval from Parliament and a bill to this effect will be introduced soon, Dasmunsi said.