Yesterday, the Union Cabinet approved 10 per cent reservation in government jobs for “economically backward” upper castes. The quota’s eligibility criteria includes those who belong to upper castes and earn less than ₹8 lakh per year, those with agricultural land less than five acres, a residential house smaller than 1,000 square feet, a residential plot below 100 yards in a notified municipality, or a residential plot below 200 yards in a non-notified municipality area.

The Times of India reported today that with the new quota, “almost all of India’s population will be entitled to one quota or the other”. It analysed the eligibility criteria versus data available on Indians who fell into those brackets.

The report said the ₹8 lakh cut-off translates to “roughly 4% of Indians” and at least 95 per cent of Indians earn less than this amount. It said a household receiving ₹8 lakh a year was significantly above the national average, “not poor”. Next, 86 per cent of land holdings in India “fall under the category of less than five acres”. 80 per cent or more houses are less than 500 square feet, and the criterion uses the cut-off of 1,000 square feet or smaller. The report said data wasn’t available for the last two criteria.

The report concluded: “What this means is that the new quota will be available to almost anybody not currently covered by the SC/ST or OBC reservations. SCs and STs constitute around 23% of the population while OBCs make up another 40-50% … This leaves about 27-37% currently not entitled to any quota. Considering that the big slice of all ‘open’ jobs or seats go to these sections anyway and that the relatively better off among them are better placed to make use of opportunities…”