About: The Centre had constituted the three-member committee in November last year according to an assurance given to the top court to revisit the criteria for determining EWS.
Members: The committee had three members comprising-
Ajay Bhushan Pandey, former finance secretary,
VK Malhotra, member secretary, ICSSR, and
Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Adviser to Centre,
Key Recommendation: The thee member Panel recommendations say that family income is a “feasible criterion” for defining EWS and in the current situation.
EWS Quota Criteria- Key Recommendations of the Panel
Income Criteria: EWS Quota Panel recommended retaining the current gross annual family income limit for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of Rs 8 lakh or less. The panel said that-
Only those families whose annual income is up to Rs 8 lakh would be eligible to get the benefit of an EWS reservation.
The current limit of annual family income of Rs 8 lakhs does not seem to be over-inclusive as the available data on actual outcomes does not indicate over-inclusion.
It should be noted that income includes salary and agriculture as well
The income criterion for EWS was “more stringent” than the one for the OBC creamy layer.
Agricultural Land: The panel recommended that EWS, may exclude, irrespective of income, a person whose family has five acres of agricultural land and above.
Removal of residential Criteria: The panel recommended that the residential asset criteria may altogether be removed for defining Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).
Continuation of existing system: EWS Quota panel suggested continuation of the existing system this year as well that is being used since 2019.
The panel said that sudden adoption of new criteria on the committee report would delay and have cascading effects on the admissions.
Use of Technology: The panel recommended that data exchange and information technology should be used more actively to verify income and assets for EWS Quota.
Feedback Mechanism: It is also recommended that a three-year feedback loop cycle may be used to monitor the actual outcomes of these criteria and then be used to adjust them in the future.