CJI endorses filtering the quota creamy layer

CHIEF Justice of India BR Gavai’s endorsement of the “creamy layer” principle for Scheduled Caste reservations has reopened an important conversation on how affirmative action can be made more just, targeted and effective. His position is not a dilution of constitutional protections but an attempt to ensure that the benefits of reservation reach those who need them the most — the poorest, most socially disadvantaged and least represented segments within the SC community. For decades, the debate around reservations has focussed on expanding quotas, but not enough on their equitable distribution. A small, relatively better-off section within the SC community has repeatedly accessed opportunities in education and government employment, while families trapped in intergenerational deprivation — manual labourers, sanitation workers, landless labour households — continue to remain on the margins. If reservation is meant to correct structural exclusion, then its gains must not circulate within the same small circle.