10% quota for poor: Pensions excluded from income cap

Thiruvananthapuram: As economically weaker sections from the general category are also now provided reservation in government jobs and also in educational institutions, the Kerala government has come up with rules on income limits to avail it.

Income from social security pension will not be considered while calculating the economic ceiling for considering reservation for candidates from the economically backward sections, a Kerala government circular states.

The Kerala government has also decided not to include revenue from home vegetable gardens in corporation and municipal areas, family pension, unemployment wages, festival allowance and travel allowance while calculating the economic criteria for appointments to 10 per cent posts reserved for economically backward sections from the upper castes.

As per norms, only persons belonging to families with annual income less than Rs 4 lakh will be considered for appointments in posts in reserved categories under the new law. Those with priority ration cards and those included in Antyodaya Anna Yojana* will be considered for reservation benefit without considering any other norms.

The family income will be calculated by considering the person applying for the post, parents, siblings below the age of 18, wife and children below the age as a single unit.

With the Constitution Amendment (103rd) Act, 2019, the central government allowed 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in central government jobs and also in admission to educational institutions, including private ones.

As per the central law, state governments can frame rules on the income threshold.

Apart from the latest reservation for poor from the general category, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes are granted 15 per cent, 7.5 per cent and 27 per cent quotas respectively in central government posts.

* Antyodaya Anna Yojana, a central government scheme, is about providing highly subsidised food to poorest families.