The existing income limit for determining the non-creamy layer (NCL) among Other Backward Classes (OBC) is deemed sufficient, and no proposal to revise the said income limit is currently under consideration, according to the Centre.
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What exactly is the Non-Creamy Layer in OBCs?
- Creamy Layer is a concept that establishes a limit within which OBC reservation benefits apply.
- While there is a 27% quota for OBCs in government jobs and higher education institutions, those who fall within the “creamy layer” are not eligible.
Basis of Creamy Layer
- It is based on the Second Backward Classes Commission’s recommendation (Mandal Commission).
- In 1990, the government announced a 27% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in civil posts and services to be filled through direct recruitment.
- Following a challenge, the Supreme Court upheld 27% reservation for OBCs in the Indira Sawhney case (1992), subject to the exclusion of the creamy layer.
How is it decided?
- Following the decision in Indra Sawhney, an expert committee led by Justice (retired) R N Prasad was formed to determine the criteria for determining the creamy layer.
- The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) listed various categories of people of certain rank/status/income whose children are not eligible for OBC reservation in 1993.
- The current income threshold for those who are not in government is Rs 8 lakh per year.
- The threshold for children of government employees is determined by their parents’ rank rather than their parents’ income.
- For example, if either of his or her parents is in a constitutional post, if either parent has been directly recruited in Group-A, or if both parents are in Group-B services, the individual is considered to be in the creamy layer.
- If the parents are promoted into Group-A before the age of 40, their children will be in the creamy layer.
- Children of a Colonel or higher-ranking officer in the Army, as well as officers of comparable ranks in the Navy and Air Force, are covered by the creamy layer.
- When determining the creamy layer, income from salaries or agricultural land is not combined (2004).
What is going on now?
- Many communities have expressed concerns about the proposed revisions to the criteria.
- They have questioned whether it is rational and justified to provide a creamy layer for government services only to OBC candidates.
- Since 2011, the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has consistently maintained that the income limit should be raised to at least ten lakh rupees.
Is it still being revised?
- Aside from the income limit, the current definition of the creamy layer is the same as it was defined by the DoPT in 1993 and 2004.
- The income limit has been adjusted over time.
- There have been no further orders for the definition of the creamy layer.
- Although the DoPT stated that it would be revised every three years, the first revision since 1993 (Rs 1 lakh per year) occurred only in 2004 (Rs 2.50 lakh), 2008 (Rs 4.50 lakh), 2013 (Rs 6 lakh), and 2017. (Rs 8 lakh).
- The last revision was more than five years ago.
What is the most recent NCL limit?
- Currently, an annual income of 8 lakh or more for both parents disqualifies OBCs from receiving reservation.
- It places them in the creamy layer, with benefits only available to those earning less than that.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/existing-income-limit-for-non-creamy-layer-obcs-is-considered-sufficient-centre-tells-ls/article66482204.ece