AP govt. extends 10 percent EWS quota to govt. jobs along with education, issues GO

The Andhra Pradesh government has taken a crucial decision on the issue of making reservations for the upper caste poor and issued GO permitting 10 percent EWS reservation in jobs as well along with education. Also, the decision was taken to further simplify the qualifications determined by the Central Government. The reservation will apply to the upper caste poor with a family annual income of less than Rs 8 lakh. It also raised the income limit for the issuance of OBC certificates from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh. The memo was issued in line with a notification issued by the Central Government in the past. To this extent, it has given official information to the tehsildar offices in the state. This will benefit Kapu, Kamma, Reddy, Vaishya, and other non-Brahmin social groups across the state.

In the past, the TDP government has been angry over the allocation of 5 percent of the EWS reservation made by the Centre to Kapus and another 5 percent to other OCs. After the YSRCP came to power, it gave GO applying the reservation to all the upper castes. Now Momo has issued accordingly. Reservation seems to have come to the upper caste poor in job opportunities with the latest GO.

As per the guidelines framed, the economically backward families belonging to social groups who do not fall under SC, ST, BC reservation categories in the state are eligible for these reservations. This is applicable only if the annual family income is less than a maximum of Rs. 8 lakhs. The government has made it clear in GO that the roster points related to job replacement under EWS will be decided separately later. One-third of the 10 percent reservation made under the EWS category is reserved for women belonging to the respective social groups. Issued orders to tehsildars to issue EWS certificates to those who are eligible.

The EWS reservation brought by the Central Government imposes several conditions for compliance. To fall into this category, the family should not have more than five acres of agricultural land and should not have flats beyond a thousand square feet. In the case of housing, the reservation does not apply if the housing area is more than one hundred yards in cities and more than two hundred yards in rural areas. However, the state government has set aside all these provisions and only included a rule that the annual income should not exceed Rs 8 lakh.