Constitutional and Legal Framework — Other Backward Classes (OBCs) — Amendments

Amendment	Year	Description	Impact
1	1951	Inserted Article 15(4), enabling special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.	Supplied an express constitutional basis for the specified advancement measures. It does not itself prescribe one reservation percentage for every institution.
93	2005	Inserted Article 15(5), enabling admission-related special provisions by law within its institutional scope, including specified private institutions and retaining the Article 30(1) minority-institution exception.	Expanded the express constitutional route for admission-related measures. The Act year is 2005; commencement in January 2006 should not be substituted for that year, and implementing law remains necessary.
102	2018	Inserted Article 338B for the National Commission for Backward Classes and Article 342A concerning identification of socially and educationally backward classes.	Gave the NCBC a constitutional basis and changed the identification framework. Historical accounts of a merely statutory NCBC must be updated; the later 105th Amendment must also be read for State-purpose identification.
105	2021	Clarified State and Union territory power to identify socially and educationally backward classes by law for their own purposes, distinct from the Central List.	Preserved the possibility of different lists for different governmental purposes. State recognition does not automatically settle eligibility for a programme governed by the Central List.