Reservation Related Amendments — Amendments

Amendment	Year	Description	Impact
1st Amendment	1951	Introduced Article 15(4), enabling the State to make special provisions for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. This was a direct response to the Supreme Court's judgment in the *State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan* case.	Provided the constitutional basis for caste-based reservations in educational institutions and public employment, ensuring that affirmative action measures were legally permissible and not in violation of equality principles.
7th Amendment	1956	Primarily focused on the reorganization of states on a linguistic basis. While not directly a reservation amendment, it impacted the definition and application of SC/ST lists across newly formed states and union territories, influencing the scope of beneficiaries.	Indirectly affected reservation by redefining administrative boundaries, which in turn influenced the applicability and scope of existing SC/ST lists and reservation policies in different regions of the country.
23rd Amendment	1969	Extended the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the special representation for Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies for another ten years, from 1970 to 1980.	Established a precedent for periodic extensions of political reservations for SCs/STs, acknowledging the ongoing need for their representation in legislative bodies and setting a pattern for future amendments to Article 334.
65th Amendment	1990	Replaced the single-member Special Officer for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes with a multi-member National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (NCSCST). This body was given enhanced powers to investigate and monitor safeguards.	Strengthened the institutional mechanism for protecting the interests of SCs and STs by creating a more robust, multi-member constitutional body with a broader mandate for monitoring and advising on reservation policies.
77th Amendment	1995	Introduced Article 16(4A), empowering the State to make provisions for reservation in matters of promotion, with consequential seniority, for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. This was a direct legislative response to the *Indra Sawhney* judgment (1992).	Overrode the Supreme Court's ruling against reservation in promotions, ensuring that SC/ST candidates could continue to receive promotional benefits, thereby expanding the scope of affirmative action beyond initial appointments.
81st Amendment	2000	Inserted Article 16(4B), allowing the 'carry forward' of unfilled reserved vacancies from one year to the next. This provision explicitly stated that such carried-forward vacancies would not be counted against the 50% ceiling limit on reservations for that year.	Addressed the issue of lapsed reserved vacancies, ensuring that they could be filled in subsequent years without violating the 50% ceiling, thus maximizing the utilization of reservation quotas for backward classes.
82nd Amendment	2000	Added a proviso to Article 335, permitting the State to relax qualifying marks or standards of evaluation in any examination or selection for reservation in matters of promotion to any services or posts for SCs and STs.	Facilitated the promotion of SC/ST candidates by allowing for a relaxation of stringent eligibility criteria, aiming to ensure their adequate representation in higher posts while balancing administrative efficiency.
85th Amendment	2001	Amended Article 16(4A) to provide for 'consequential seniority' to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in matters of promotion. This amendment was given retrospective effect from June 17, 1995.	Ensured that SC/ST employees promoted under reservation would retain their seniority over general category employees promoted later, protecting their career progression and addressing a key demand from these communities.
89th Amendment	2003	Bifurcated the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two separate constitutional bodies: the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) under Article 338 and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) under Article 338A.	Recognized the distinct issues faced by tribal communities, allowing for more focused attention, advocacy, and monitoring of safeguards for SCs and STs through dedicated commissions, enhancing institutional effectiveness.
103rd Amendment	2019	Inserted Articles 15(6) and 16(6), providing for a 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in educational institutions and public employment, respectively. This introduced an economic criterion for reservation.	Marked a significant shift in reservation policy by extending affirmative action to a new category based purely on economic backwardness, broadening the scope of beneficiaries beyond traditional social and educational criteria.
104th Amendment	2019	Extended the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for another ten years (until 2030). It also discontinued the provision for the nomination of Anglo-Indians.	Ensured continued political representation for SCs and STs for another decade, while simultaneously removing an outdated provision for Anglo-Indian nomination, reflecting evolving demographic and political realities.
105th Amendment	2021	Amended Articles 342A, 338B, and 366(26C) to restore the power of state governments to identify and specify Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) for their own state lists.	Rectified an unintended consequence of the 102nd Amendment, ensuring that states retain their federal power to identify and list OBCs for state-specific reservation policies, maintaining the federal balance in reservation matters.