Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government will now implement the 10 per cent reservation of economically weaker sections (EWS) in recruitment of government jobs. The reservation has already been in practice for the EWS in education.
A government order to this effect was passed on Wednesday evening, which had also increased the eligibility family income cap to Rs 8 lakh per annum from Rs 5 lakh. It has further simplified norms stipulated by the by the Central government for reservations to EWS among upper castes under the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act.
“The persons who are not covered under existing scheme of reservations for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and whose gross annual family income is below Rs 8 lakh are to be identified as Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) for the benefit of reservation. The income shall also include income from all sources i.e. salary, agriculture, business, profession, etc. for the financial year prior to the year of application,” said chief secretary Dr Adityanath Das said in the GO.
The EWS for employment has been delayed by court litigations; the YSRCP government blames the TDP-led government for hurried attempts to provide reservations to Kapu community through a legislation and subsequently creating a separate quota for Kapus within EBC quota.
Besides, the Andhra Pradesh government also increased the income limit for securing OBC certificates to Rs 8 lakh per annum. Explaining the rationale for revising the guidelines, the government in its orders recalled that in 2017, the then state government had passed a bill in the Assembly providing a five per cent quota for Telaga, Ontari and Balija communities including Kapus in BC-F category. However, the same is awaiting presidential assent.