{"id":369107,"date":"2026-08-07T13:30:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=369107"},"modified":"2026-08-07T13:30:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:00:24","slug":"means-test-and-creamy-layer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/means-test-and-creamy-layer\/","title":{"rendered":"Means-test and Creamy Layer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>News: <\/strong>The Centre has opposed petitions before the Supreme Court seeking income-based prioritisation within reserved categories, arguing that the creamy layer principle does not apply to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">About Means-test and Creamy Layer<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 311px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.drishtiias.com\/images\/uploads\/1577705970_pasted%20image1.png?resize=311%2C243&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Means-test and Creamy Layer\" width=\"311\" height=\"243\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: TH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>About Means test:<\/strong> A means test in reservation is <strong>an income and wealth evaluation<\/strong> used to exclude <strong>economically advanced individuals known as the &#8220;creamy layer&#8221; from receiving quota benefits.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>About Creamy Layer<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Origin-<\/strong>The concept emerged from the <strong>landmark Indra Sawhney case ruling in 1992.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Definition-<\/strong>The creamy layer refers to the<strong> more socially, economically, and educationally advanced members<\/strong> within a backward community. This is done to ensure reservation benefits reach those who need them most.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It currently applies only to OBCs (Other Backward Classes).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong data-start=\"714\" data-end=\"774\">The creamy layer principle does not apply to SCs and STs<\/strong> under existing law and Supreme Court judgments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>About sub-classification: \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0The creamy layer is <strong>different from sub-classification.<\/strong> Sub-classification involves breaking down <strong>a reserved category (like SC) into groups based on socio-economic criteria.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The creamy layer, on the other hand,<strong> identifies the more advantaged individuals within a specific caste or community.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>About the issue related to creamy layer:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The petitioner argued that a <strong data-start=\"624\" data-end=\"638\">means test<\/strong> <strong>should be introduced for SC\/ST reservations so that wealthier SC\/ST families are excluded,<\/strong> allowing poorer members of these communities to benefit.<\/li>\n<li>The petition seeks a <strong>merit-cum-means reservation system<\/strong> by giving priority to <strong>economically weaker candidates within the SC, ST, OBC, and EWS categories through income-based sub-classification. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Reason why creamy layer principle cannot be extended to SCs and STs:<\/strong> The Centre has argued that:\n<ul>\n<li data-section-id=\"nhuzq7\" data-start=\"861\" data-end=\"1110\"><strong data-start=\"863\" data-end=\"928\">SC\/ST reservation is based on historical caste discrimination<\/strong>, not on income or wealth.\u00a0 Even<strong> if a person from these communities becomes financially well-off,<\/strong> they may<strong> still face caste-based discrimination.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"zrwtva\" data-start=\"1111\" data-end=\"1292\">Any major change to the reservation system should be made <strong data-start=\"1171\" data-end=\"1226\">by Parliament after detailed socio-economic studies<\/strong>, not through a court order.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-section-id=\"zrwtva\" data-start=\"1111\" data-end=\"1292\"><strong>Constitutional stand:<\/strong> Only Parliament can add or remove a caste, <strong>tribe, or sub-group from the official lists of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) under Articles 341 and 342.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-section-id=\"zrwtva\" data-start=\"1111\" data-end=\"1292\">State governments, courts, tribunals, or any other authority cannot change these lists.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Centre has opposed petitions before the Supreme Court seeking income-based prioritisation within reserved categories, arguing that the creamy layer principle does not apply to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). About Means-test and Creamy Layer About Means test: A means test in reservation is an income and wealth evaluation used to exclude&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/means-test-and-creamy-layer\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Means-test and Creamy Layer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1760,12039],"tags":[11872,11234],"class_list":["post-369107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-polity-and-nation","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-moneycontrol","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}