Rs 8 lakh income cap only requirement for EWS quota in Gujarat

The Gujarat government said Wednesday it will only consider Rs 8 lakh annual income cap and not take into account land and house ownership criteria for providing 10 per cent reservation to candidates from the economically weaker sections (EWS) in the general category.

This was decided by the state cabinet at its meeting here. The state government will not consider aspects like how much agricultural land or how big a house a beneficiary's family holds for the qualification for the 10 per cent reservation as long as the beneficiary's family income is less than Rs 8 lakh a year, an official statement said here.

However, the family of the beneficiary should be residing in the state from before 1978 to qualify for the quota benefits in government jobs and educational institutions, it said.

"The Gujarat government reserves 33 per cent seats for women. Therefore, 33 per cent seats out of 10 per cent reserved for the economically weaker section candidates among general category will be reserved for women," the statement said.

The decisions were taken at the cabinet meeting and a notification regarding the same will be issued soon, it said.

"The government has decided to consider only one aspect of family income of less than Rs 8 lakh as the eligibility criterion for candidates from general category to qualify for the 10 per cent EWS quota," it said.

"Family income will mean incomes of the candidates' parents and their siblings. The income will include salaries, incomes from agriculture, businesses, etc.," the statement.

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The Centre has set annual income of less than Rs 8 lakh along with criteria such as the family owning less than 5 acre farm land and having less than 1,000 sq feet house in a town or 100 sq yard house in notified municipal area for availing the EWS reservation benefits.

The BJP-ruled Gujarat was the first state to announce implementation of the 10 per cent EWS quota from January 14 soon after it became a law.