While announcing its proposal for 10% general category reservation for economically poor upper castes, representatives of the government said that the reservation would apply to all groups not covered by existing quotas, including Muslims and other religious minorities. Though the move is being sold as a pre-election sop for upper castes, data shows that if the government seeks out the poorest of the eligible poor, the quota should almost entirely go to Muslims.
However, the eligibility criteria have been made overly broad, meaning that nearly everyone in the country will be eligible.
The Narendra Modi government has said that it intends for the eligibility cut-off to be a household income of ₹8 lakh per year. Families owning agricultural land above five acres, a house above 1,000 sq. ft, or a 100 yard plot or above in a notified municipal area or a plot of 200 sq. yards or above in a non-notified municipal area will not be eligible.
On average, a little over the top 1% of the country has a household income of over ₹8 lakh, according to data from the 2011-12 India Human Development Survey (IHDS) conducted jointly by the National Council for Applied Economic Research and the University of Maryland.
But among groups that are not currently covered by reservations, Muslims undoubtedly stand out as the poorest. The average Indian annual household income was ₹1.13 lakh as of 2011-12, with scheduled castes and scheduled tribes earning the least, followed by Muslims and then other backward classes (OBCs).
Upper castes are the richest, with a household income nearly one-and-a-half times the Indian average. Also, as of 2011-12, less than 3% of rural households owned over five acres of land, and the proportion is just 1% among Muslims, according to data from the National Sample Survey Office.
A Mint analysis of
NFHS 2015-16 data found that even ten years later, Muslims are under-represented among the affluent while forward castes are over-represented.