Identity Politics — Amendments

Amendment	Year	Description	Impact
73rd Amendment Act	1992	Constitutionalized Panchayati Raj Institutions, mandating reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and women in local self-governing bodies.	Significantly deepened democratic participation at the grassroots, empowering marginalized caste and gender identities by providing them direct political representation and leadership opportunities at the local level, thereby fostering new forms of identity politics.
74th Amendment Act	1992	Constitutionalized Urban Local Bodies (municipalities), extending similar reservation provisions for SCs, STs, and women as in rural areas.	Extended the impact of identity-based political representation to urban governance, allowing for the assertion of caste and gender identities in city administration and policy-making, reflecting the diverse social fabric of urban India.
103rd Amendment Act	2019	Introduced 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in government jobs and educational institutions, outside the existing SC, ST, and OBC quotas.	While not directly tied to traditional social identities like caste or religion, this amendment introduced a new category of reservation based on economic criteria, reflecting a shift in affirmative action policy and potentially creating a new axis of identity-based demands around economic backwardness, impacting the broader discourse on identity and equity.