Editor's Pick: Centre gets States their power back on OBC list

The Lok Sabha has unanimously passed the Constitution 127th Amendment Bill, 2021 which seeks to restore to the States the right to maintain their own list of socially and economically backward OBCs. The Bill, which will be the 105th Amendment to the Indian Constitution once it is enacted, will benefit 671 castes across the country, the government has said. This amendment is a consequence of the Supreme Court's interpretation of the 102nd Amendment made in 2018 as taking away the power of States to maintain their own list of OBCs, which they had been doing since 1993 after the Indira Sawhney verdict. The 102nd Amendment introduced Articles 342A, 366(26C) and 338B, giving constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes and stating that the President of India would specify socially and economically backward classes. In the Supreme Court's verdict in May this year on the constitutionality of Maharashtra's reservation for the Maratha community, one of the judges on the three-member Bench said this meant that States could no longer list OBCs. Now, the Centre has brought the 105th Amendment to "clarify that the State Government and Union territories are empowered to prepare and maintain their own State List/ Union territory List of SEBCs." During the discussion on the Bill, the government also agreed that a cross-party demand to remove the 50% ceiling on reservation merited examination. The new Amendment was passed unanimously, with the Opposition breaking off from its disruption of Parliament over the Pegasus issue to vote for it. The Amendment brings back to all States, including of course those ruled by parties in the Opposition at the Centre, the crucial power to decide the castes that can benefit from reservation. A removal of the 50% ceiling would further enhance this power. These developments in India's caste-politics matrix are what make this story important. The Hindu's Editorials Choppy waters: On global maritime security Undermining justice: On vacancies in courts, tribunals Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. Click here Try out The Hindu's daily news quiz Who carried the Indian flag for the closing ceremony at Tokyo 2020? 1. Neeraj Chopra 2. Bajrang Punia 3. P.V. Sindhu 4. Aditi Ashok To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here [logo] Editor's Pick 11 AUGUST 2021 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Centre gets States their power back on OBC list [Centre gets States their power back on OBC list] The Lok Sabha has [unanimously passed]( the Constitution 127th Amendment Bill, 2021 which seeks to restore to the States the right to maintain their own list of socially and economically backward OBCs. The Bill, which will be the 105th Amendment to the Indian Constitution once it is enacted, will benefit 671 castes across the country, the government has said. This amendment is a consequence of the Supreme Court's interpretation of the 102nd Amendment made in 2018 as taking away the power of States to maintain their own list of OBCs, which they had been doing since 1993 after the [Indira Sawhney verdict](. The 102nd Amendment introduced Articles 342A, 366(26C) and 338B, giving constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes and stating that the President of India would specify socially and economically backward classes. In the Supreme Court's verdict in May this year on the constitutionality of Maharashtra's reservation for the [Maratha community]( one of the judges on the three-member Bench said this meant that States could no longer list OBCs. Now, the Centre has brought the 105th Amendment to "clarify that the State Government and Union territories are empowered to prepare and maintain their own State List/ Union territory List of SEBCs." During the discussion on the Bill, the government also agreed that a cross-party demand to remove the 50% ceiling on reservation merited examination. The new Amendment was passed unanimously, with the Opposition breaking off from its disruption of Parliament over the Pegasus issue to vote for it. The Amendment brings back to all States, including of course those ruled by parties in the Opposition at the Centre, the crucial power to decide the castes that can benefit from reservation. A removal of the 50% ceiling would further enhance this power. These developments in India's caste-politics matrix are what make this story important. The Hindu's Editorials [Arrow][Choppy waters: On global maritime security]( [Arrow][Undermining justice: On vacancies in courts, tribunals]( [underlineimg] Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. [Click here]( [underlineimg] Try out The Hindu's daily news quiz Who carried the Indian flag for the closing ceremony at Tokyo 2020? 1. Neeraj Chopra 2. Bajrang Punia 3. P.V. Sindhu 4. 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