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    EWS quota panel suggests dropping existing criteria on residential asset size

    Synopsis

    The panel has further suggested that 'a three-year feedback loop cycle may be used to monitor the actual outcomes of these criteria and then be used to adjust them in future'.

    90-Page EWS report will be submitted in Supreme Court this weekAgencies
    Supreme Court (File Photo)
    A special committee set up to review the eligibility criteria of 10% reservations for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in government institutes and jobs has suggested dropping the existing criteria on residential asset size while retaining the Rs 8 lakh annual income limit.

    In a report submitted to the Supreme Court on Saturday, the panel suggested that the recommendations be implemented only from the next admission cycle and not the ongoing one as any sudden change will cause a major disruption across educational institutes and create complications for both beneficiaries and the authorities.

    It has recommended that the existing process - in effect since 2019 - be continued for the current admission cycle, ET has learnt.

    The panel has further suggested that 'a three-year feedback loop cycle may be used to monitor the actual outcomes of these criteria and then be used to adjust them in future'.

    It has also proposed that data exchange and information technology be used actively to verify income and assets and improve targeting for EWS reservations.

    ET gathers that the government is likely to go with the panel's recommendations and revise its EWS quota guidelines accordingly, if they pass muster at the apex court.

    Petitions have been filed in the top court challenging the income criteria for the EWS quota in the NEET exam that determines admissions to medical colleges.

    With the apex court questioning the Centre on how it arrived at the Rs 8 lakh income limit, the latter had proposed an expert committee to review the EWS quota criteria.

    The three-member panel comprises Ajay Bhushan Pandey, former finance secretary; VK Malhotra, member secretary of Indian Council of Social Science Research, and Sanjeev Sanyal, principal economic advisor to the government.

    According to the EWS quota notification of 2019 issued by the Department of Personnel & Training, persons whose family owns or possesses 5 acres of agricultural land or residential plot of 1,000 square feet or a residential plot of 100 square yards in notified municipalities or a plot of 200 square yards and above in areas other than the notified municipalities, will be excluded from being identified as EWS, irrespective of the family income.

    The panel has recommended that the residential asset criteria may altogether be removed, arguing that mere possession of residential house may not correctly reflect the economic condition of the candidate or his family, especially if it is used only as a dwelling unit and not for generating any income.

    Any EWS exclusion criteria only based on owning a house may lead to unwanted exclusion of deserving candidates, the committee has observed in its report, pointing to representations from the Kerala government on the matter.

    It has, however, backed excluding all candidates with agricultural land over 5 acres saying that removing this limit could result in big landowners being included in EWS as currently there is no income tax on agricultural income, and this may escape being included in the gross annual income.

    They have assessed it will not adversely impact genuine rural candidates as the average farm holding for all social groups have been nearly the same over decades- small farmer with a holding of 2.5 acres to 5 acres and marginal farmers holding up to 2.5 acres of land.

    The committee has termed the gross family annual income limit of Rs 8 lakh as ‘just and fair in the present circumstances’ as unlike the similar income criteria for OBC creamy layers reservation, the EWS regime includes income from all sources including agricultural income and salary for the household.

    A cut-off lower than Rs 8 lakh on family income would be ‘unduly restrictive and lead to errors of exclusion of the deserving ones’, it has said.

    The committee has also pointed to data from JEE, NEET and UPSC to conclude that the Rs 8 lakh income limit has not led to ‘over-inclusion’ of underserving candidates or deprivation of deserving ones.

    The annual household income distribution of qualified EWS candidates for NEET-UG and JEE (Mains) for 2020 reveals that a mere 9% and 8.2% of EWS candidates were found to be in the income bracket Rs 5-8 lakh, respectively, and most selected candidates who got the benefit of EWS reservation had annual family income lower than Rs 5 lakh.

    Hence, the report notes that there is no obvious bunching at the top of the income criteria that would suggest exclusion of deserving lower-income candidates.


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