Creamy Layer: Icing Thicker than Cake

In India, the phrase "creamy layer" refers to the icing on a cake. In the lucrative world of reservation politics, "creamy layer" thus means the icing on the cake of each 'disadvantaged' group (like the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Other Backward Classes and the More Other Backward Classes) that comprises people within the group who have transcended their disadvantages and really do not need reservations any more. Not surprisingly, when several States of India had taken the reservation business to absurd lengths (reserving even 80 per cent or more of their seats in IITs, IIMs, medical colleges and engineering colleges, the Supreme Court intervened and placed a ceiling of 50 per cent on reservations. Later, when the extent of reservations for OBCs was mooted, the apex court, apart from setting a ceiling, also ruled that the reservations should not include the creamy layer. This foxed our clever politicians because it was a directive that kept out the hopeful OBC beneficiaries who did not have any disadvantages any more, had all the money but lacked the merit to get seats where they wanted. One way out of the problem was to make the creamy layer a real thick one. The ruling UPA identified the creamy layer as families with an annual income of above Rs 5 lakh. Most of us would regard this as a very thick layer of icing. But now Karnataka wants to identify the creamy layer as families with an annual income of over Rs 25 lakh or a monthly income of over Rs 2 lakh. In other words, families with incomes higher than that alone would be deemed to belong to the creamy layer and hence disqualified for the benefits of reservations. One fails to see how families with monthly incomes of Rs 2 lakh can be deemed to be 'disadvantaged' and needing reservations. We have a case of the icing being thicker than the cake. All that this implies is a concerted effort to reject merit of any kind on the plea of reservations. source: sentinel assam