Breaking News: Quota for Meira Kumar's kids

In the previous post, we proposed a matrimonial alliance between Hon'ble Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Meira Kumar's third daughter Devangna and Shivam Vij. It would be a perfect alliance. It has been hotly debated and discussed whether Hon'ble Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Smt. Meira Kumar's kids are eligible for any form of reservations. Well, speculate no more.

The social justice and empowerment ministry wants to grant the status of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to children who have a non-SC/ST father but a mother who belongs to SC/ST category. At present, the father's caste determines the caste of the children since Indian society is largely patriarchal.

Confirming the move, a senior ministry official said, "A proposal to this effect will be placed before the Cabinet for approval shortly. It will allow the child of a non-SC/ST father and SC/ST mother to claim all quota benefits, specially allowances.

One more reason for Shivam to ask for the hand of the fair Ms. Devangna, although a wrinkle to the story would be whether one-fourth SC/STs can still lay claim to quotas.

More to follow: OBC quota for half-OBCs, one-time tax credit of Rs. 5000/- for marrying a Dalit woman and Rs. 1000/- for marrying an OBC woman.

Issues: Concerns remain about whether one-fourth or even one-eighth Dalits/OBCs can claim quotas. A more contentious issue is whether upper-caste spouses of Dalits/OBCs themselves should be considered eligible. The latter point will be hotly debated.

Update on issues: One more concern has come to light. What about spouses and children of those who marry animals? We already discussed some of the implications in this post.

Upper-caste folks, no need to forge that caste certificate. You can lay claim to the great Indian quota system through legitimate routes.

Resources:
OBC Matrimonial
Dalit Matrimonial