ABSTRACT
The political opportunism and context behind the proliferation of affirmative action in India are too significant to be ignored. This chapter aims to outline the political reasons in terms of elections and political pressure tactics by socio-politically influential and socially dominant groups for gaining backwardness recognition. It points out that the intent of legislative and parliamentarian policy has not been to address the disadvantage of some sort but to gain political benefits in the upcoming elections, wind down massive public protest, and avoid political backlash from the politically and socially dominant upper-caste groups. The concept of creamy layer has been heavily politicised and has been a thorny issue in the recent reservation jurisprudence. It is particularly relevant to the EWS group identification scheme, and hence this chapter provides a legal analysis of the principle of creamy layer, sans its politics by highlighting its changing relevance for different reservation groups.
