In news- Recently, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court of Madras judgement that had quashed the 10.5 per cent special internal reservation provided by the Tamil Nadu government to Vanniyars, a most backward caste (MBC). The bench referred to the Supreme Court ruling in the Indra Sawhney case which had stated that ‘caste can be the starting point but not sole basis for reservation’.
Key updates-
- Tamil Nadu Backward Class Commission had recommended 10.5 per cent reservation for Vanniyars community, after door to door enumeration.
- The state Government had split the aggregate 20 per cent reservation for MBCs and Denotified Communities in 2012 into three separate categories by regrouping castes and provided a ten per cent plus sub-quota for Vanniyars, formerly known as Vanniakula Kshatriyas.
- The Madras High Court had ruled that identifying one caste as a separate group for creating an exclusive quota, without any quantifiable data on its backwardness relative to others, amounted to giving reservation solely on the basis of caste and, therefore, impermissible under the Constitution.
- Further, it had noted that the remaining 115 castes under the ‘MBC and Denotified Communities’ category were forced to share the remaining 9.5% (in two groups with 2.5% and 7%, respectively) of what used to be a 20% MBC/DNC quota and this amounted to discrimination.
About Vanniyars-
- They are found in the northern part of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
- Vanniyakula kshatriya community includes vanniyar, vanniya, vannia gounder, gounder, padayachi, palli and agnikula kshatriya.
- 28% population in Tamil Nadu and 65% population in Pondicherry belong to Vannia Kula Kshatriyar caste.
- Famous titles that Vannia uses are Padayatchi, Gounder, Reddiar, Kander, Palli, Naicker, Nayaka, Adiyaman and others.
- They organised state-wide agitations in the mid-1980s demanding an exclusive 20 per cent reservation in the state and 20 per cent in central services.
History of reservation in Tamil Nadu-
- Tamil Nadu had 25 percent reservation for OBCs and 16 percent for SCs and STs in 1951.
- It was the first M.Karunanidhi government that increased OBC reservation to 30 percent and SC, ST reservation to 18 percent in 1971.
- Later, an exclusive 20 per cent reservation was carved out for MBCs in 1989.
The current reservation breakup of the state comprises 69 percent – which includes 30 per cent for BCs (including Christians and Muslims), 20 per cent for MBCs, 18 per cent for SCs and 1 percent for the ST community.
Source: The Hindu
