New Delhi [India], March 3 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government and State Election Commission (SEC) not to act upon the interim report of Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (SBCC ) which recommended a grant of 27 per cent OBC quota in local bodies election and reiterated that election be held without OBC reservation.

New Delhi Jan 20 PTI The Supreme Court on Thursday said if open examinations present equality of opportunity to candidates to compete reservations ensure that the opportunities are distributed in such a way that backward classes are equally able to benefit from such opportunities which typically evade them because of structural barriersIt said that the high scores in an examination are not a proxy for merit which should be contextualised and re-conceptualized as an instrument that advances social goods like equalityThis is the only manner in which merit can be a democratizing force that equalises inherited disadvantages and privileges Otherwise claims of individual merit are nothing but tools of obscuring inheritances that underlie achievements the top court saidThe court which upheld 27 per cent Other Backward Classes reservation in All India Quota seats in the NEET for UG and PG medical courses said that the binary of merit and reservation has now become superfluous once this Court has recognized the principle of substantive equality as the mandate of Article 14 and as a facet of Articles 15 1 and 161 of the ConstitutionA bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna said if open examinations present equality of opportunity to candidates to compete reservations ensure that the opportunities are distributed in such a way that backward classes are equally able to benefit from such opportunities which typically evade them because of structural barriersIt said High scores in an examination are not a proxy for merit Merit should be socially contextualized and re-conceptualized as an instrument that advances social goods like equality that we as a society value In such a context reservation is not at odds with merit but furthers its distributive consequences The bench added that an open competitive exam may ensure formal equality where everyone has an equal opportunity to participate However widespread inequalities in the availability of and access to educational facilities will result in the deprivation of certain classes of people who would be unable to effectively compete in such a system Special provisions like reservation enable such disadvantaged classes to overcome the barriers they face in effectively competing with forward classes and thus ensuring substantive equality it saidThe bench said that the privileges that accrue to forward classes are not limited to having access to quality schooling and access to tutorials and coaching centres to prepare for a competitive examination but also includes their social networks and cultural capital communication skills accent books or academic accomplishments that they inherit from their familyThe cultural capital ensures that a child is trained unconsciously by the familial environment to take up higher education or a high post commensurate with their familys standing This works to the disadvantage of individuals who are first-generation learners and come from communities whose traditional occupations do not result in the transmission of necessary skills required to perform well in the open examination They have to put in the surplus effort to compete with their peers from the forward communities the top court addedIt said that a combination of family habitus community linkages and inherited skills work to the advantage of individuals belonging to certain classes which is then classified as merit reproducing and reaffirming social hierarchiesThis is not to say that performance in competitive examinations or admission in higher educational institutions does not require a great degree of hard work and dedication but it is necessary to understand that merit is not solely of ones own making The rhetoric surrounding merit obscures the way in which family schooling fortune and a gift of talents that the society currently values aids in ones advancement it saidThe top court added that while examinations are a necessary and convenient method of distributing educational opportunities marks may not always be the best gauge of individual merit It said that at the best an examination can only reflect the current competence of an individual but not the gamut of their potential capabilities or excellence which are also shaped by lived experiences subsequent training and individual characterIt added that an oppositional paradigm of merit and reservation serves to entrench inequalities by relegating reserved candidates to the sphere of incompetence and diminishing their capabilities PTI MNL MNL RKS RKS

A stern deadline by the education ministry has led to IITs placing ads for quota-based hiring of faculty members, a first for the institutes.  Up to this point, IITs had autonomy over recruitment but that is seeing a sweeping change with the education ministry writing to the institutes that reservation rules need to be adhered to and […]