Update : Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) Bill

To enable the State to provide the fruits of reservation expeditiously to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWSs) in the various government exams of the Government of India and in the admission to Educational Institutions, the articles 15(6) and 16(6) have been inserted in the Constitution of India.

These articles were inserted via the One Hundred and Third Amendment Act, 2019.

The 10% reservation for the EWS (of sections not covered under any other affirmative action program) was implemented by the Government in January 2019.

EWS in the Education Sector

To ensure that the EWS reservation is implemented without compromising the proportionate seats of SCs, STs and OBCs, specific instructions have been issued by the Ministry of HRD to the various educational institutes to increase the total number of seats over a period of two years.

To this effect, an amount of Rs. 4315.15 crores have been sanctioned by the Union Government to create an additional 2,14,766 seats in two separate lots: 1,18,983 additional seats in 2019-20 and 95,783 additional seats during 2020-21 in the 158 Central Educational Institutions.

Who can hold an EWS certificate?

The eligibility to get the EWS certificate is not only purely based on annual family income but also based on the held property.

Not only must the candidate’s annual family income be less than Rs 8 lakhs per annum but his family also must not own more than 5 acres of agriculture land. Any residential flat area should be below 1000 sq ft.

The income limit has been set by the central government for admission to central government-owned colleges and jobs offered by the central government. However, the state governments are authorized to extend the income limit further for candidates seeking reservation under EWS category in the state-owned colleges and state government’s jobs.