India’s economic K-shaped recovery from Covid is likely to persist. Large numbers of Indian homes not under SC/ST/OBC earn less than the EWS income cap.
India’s section of society belonging to the unreserved category with an annual family income of less than 8 lakh rupees falls under EWS.
On Jan 14, 2019, amending the constitution allowed affirmative action for the financially distressed.
India’s economic weakness
India’s government initiated a 10% education-and-employment quota for EWS.
Furthermore, EWSs are ineligible for the 49.5% of public jobs and seats reserved for ST, SC, and OBC applicants.
The official memorandum released by the government said, “The figure ensures that most low-income people who are not required to pay income tax are not excluded and are covered in EWS and at the same time it should not be so high that it becomes over-inclusive by including many incomes tax-paying middle-and high-income families into EWS.”
In 2018 and 2019, as per a survey by PLFS, 99% of rural and 95% of urban households earned less than ₹66,667 per month.
Moreover, considering the rest of India’s family incomes cannot be perceived as better off, they are unlikely to recover from Covid.
K-shaped recovery from Covid likely to persist
At some point, the findings disclosed vast discrepancies in earnings among Indian homes.
Furthermore, these homes cannot claim benefits set to uplift the socially disadvantaged.
The PLFS analysis by Ravi and Kapoor’s stated that non-SC/ST/OBC households in rural areas earned less than ₹9,000 per month.
Furthermore, non-SC/ST/OBC households in urban India earned less than ₹15,000 per month.
Additionally, government reports reported last year had significant irregularities.
As per government records, while only 15 million income taxpayers are accounted for, many more filed returns.
As per the latest Hurun India Wealth Report, homes worth ₹7 crores and above rose by 11% in 2021 at 458,000.
Moreover, given the irregularities, it isn’t easy to value assets accurately, and concerns of K-shaped recovery from Covid are likely to persist.
Confusion in EWS quota policies
Most non-SC/ST/OBC homes eligible for an EWS quota confuses policies.
For instance, merit civil-service candidates can compete for 40.5% of jobs left to all.
However, there may be confusion in the recruitment/admission of EWS applicants gaining success over ‘general’ job/seat seekers.
Furthermore, the number of EWS applicants for civil services dipped.
Anyway, in 2020, cuts made for OBC job-seekers with low test grades rattled up a controversy.
Nevertheless, the apex court questioned the Centre’s ₹8 lakh EWS limit.
Lastly,
While the apex court questions the Centre, they have rejected the accusations.
Nevertheless, India’s K-shaped recovery from Covid and other circumstances is likely to persist.
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