Context: 

Recently the Social Justice Ministry said in Parliament that the existing income limit for determining the non creamy layer among Other Backward Classes (OBC) is considered sufficient.

More on News:

• Currently, an annual income of both parents of ₹8 lakh or more excludes OBCs from availing themselves of reservation, putting them in the creamy layer category, leaving benefits only for those earning less than that.
• This comes despite repeated demands and recommendations for increasing this income limit so that it may cover more of those who deserve to be included in the quota system.

OBC reservation:

• Based on the recommendation of the Second Backward Classes Commission (Mandal Commission), the government in August 1990 had notified 27% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in vacancies in civil posts and services that are to be filled on direct recruitment.
• After this was challenged, the Supreme Court on November 16, 1992 (Indira Sawhney case) upheld 27% reservation for OBCs, subject to the exclusion of the creamy layer.

Creamy Layer:

•  It is a concept that sets a threshold within which OBC reservation benefits are applicable.
•  While there is a 27% quota for OBCs in government jobs and higher educational institutions, those falling within the “creamy layer” cannot get the benefits of this quota.

Categories defined under Creamy Layer:

• The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) listed out various categories of people of certain rank/status/income whose children cannot avail the benefit of OBC reservation.
•  For those not in government, the current threshold is an income of Rs 8 lakh per year.
• For children of government employees, the threshold is based on their parents’ rank and not income.
  • For instance, an individual is considered to fall within the creamy layer if either of his or her parents is in a constitutional post; if either parent has been directly recruited in Group-A; or if both parents are in Group B services.
• If the parents enter Group-A through promotion before the age of 40, their children will be in the creamy layer.
• Children of a Colonel or higher-ranked officer in the Army, and children of officers of similar ranks in the Navy and Air Force, too, come under the creamy layer.
•  Income from salaries or agricultural land is not clubbed while determining the creamy layer.

News Source: The Hindu