The Hindu: Chennai: Friday,
17 January 2025.
In a query addressed to the State Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, The Hindu sought data with regard to the status of presence of the Arunthathiyars in the 15 years prior to the provision of the sub-quota
A law, enacted during the
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government’s regime in 2009, envisaging the
provision of 3% reservation for Arunthathiyars within the 18% quota of
Scheduled Castes, has benefitted the community, going by responses of the
Directorates of Technical Education (DTE) and Medical Education and Research
(DME) to a query by The Hindu under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
In respect of the coveted professional course of MBBS, the total number of seats went up by about 82% between 2018-19 and 2023-24. In other words, it rose from 3,600 to 6,553. As for the Scheduled Castes (Arunthathiyars) or SC(A), the increase was a little more than 80% 107 in 2018-19 to 193 in 2023-24. In the case of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course, in 2018-19, the takers among SC(A) for the course hardly accounted for 1.5% of the total number of candidates but their figure rose to 3% five years later.
Supreme Court judgment backs validity of Tamil Nadu’s Arunthathiyar quota law
The DME, in its communication, stated that it did not collect data for the SC(A) category for the period from 2009-10 to 2017-18. However, the high level committee, constituted by the present DMK government in 2021, regarding the impact of NEET [National Eligibility cum Entrance Test] on medical admissions in Tamil Nadu, had stated that between 2010-11 and 2017-18, both in government and self-financed colleges, the quota of SC(A) had varied from 3.26% (in 2010-11) to 2.86% in 2015-16, in the case of government colleges, and from 2.98% (in 2011-12) to 2.66% (in 2016-17) with regard to self-financed colleges. Since 2017-18, admission to the medical courses in the State is done through the NEET.
With regard to admission to engineering courses, the strength of SC(A) students increased from 1,193 in 2009-10 to 3,944 in 2023-24. There was a rise of about 230% or an annual average growth rate of 15%. According to information available with this journalist independent of the DTE’s reply, given the fact that the SC(A)’s sub-quota is 16% of the overall SC quota, the share of the community’s students under the SCs was well below this figure fluctuating from 8.7% in 2016-17 to 14.6% in 2019-20.
Supreme Court judgment in Arunthathiyars Reservation Act case a recognition of Dravidian model, says Stalin
In mid August 2024, The Hindu addressed the query to the State Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare (ADTW) regarding the efficacy of the 2009 law in the last 15 years with regard to education and public employment. The query had also sought data with regard to the status of presence of the Arunthathiyars in the 15 years prior to the provision of the sub-quota.
The ADTW Department did not furnish consolidated information unlike what the Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department did last year with regard to another RTI query by a Chennai resident on the presence of Vanniyars and the remaining Most Backward Classes apart from Denotified Communities in education and jobs. However, it apparently forwarded the query to various other departments, which had, in turn, passed on to bodies and institutions coming under their jurisdiction.
As for the public employment, the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, which also follows 3% reservation for SC(A), has provided information with regard to the recruitment of SC(A) candidates for Sub-Inspectors of Police in 2010, 2015, 2019 and 2022, in addition to SI (technical) and (finger print) in 2018 and the joint recrutment for SIs (Taluk, Armed Reserve and Special Police) and Station Officers (Fire & Rescue Services). The highest number was 38 for SI in 2010 and the lowest was 10 for SI (finger print) in 2018. However, the Tamil Nadu Public Services Commission did not give any information, claiming the RTI Act application fee had not been paid, even though it was paid while sending the application to the ADTW Department.
The law Tamil Nadu Arunthathiyars Reservation Act, 2009 provides preferential treatment to Arunthathiyars among the Scheduled Castes (SCs). For the purpose of the law, seven castes Arunthathiyar, Chakkiliyan, Madari, Madiga, Pagadi, Thoti, and Adi Andhra in the list of 76 SCs notified by the President under Article 341 of the Constitution have been generically called the Arunthathiyars. The principle of elasticity in reservation has been adopted in the Act for the community, which is allowed to compete for non-preferential seats. In August last year, the Supreme Court backed the constitutional validity of the law.
The enactment of the legislation followed the submission of a report of the one-member committee headed by Justice (retired) M.S. Janarthanam to the State Government in November 2008. According to the findings of the panel, as quoted in a submission by the State before the Court last year, despite accounting for about 16% of the SC population in the State (as per the 2001 Census), the Arunthathiyars’ share within the SC quota was not in proportion to their population. It was only 8.76% in engineering courses and around 7.3% in MBBS, BDS and para medical courses. In the Groups A, B and C services of the State Government, the representation of the community was “grotesquely inadequate,” ranging from 7.14% and 6.72% in Group ‘A’ and ‘B’ services to 9.29 % in Group C. Only in the case of Group D, it was around 32.4%. Commenting on this aspect, the government, in its statement of object and reasons for the law, stated that “most of them [were] scavengers requiring no educational qualifications.”
In a query addressed to the State Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, The Hindu sought data with regard to the status of presence of the Arunthathiyars in the 15 years prior to the provision of the sub-quota
In respect of the coveted professional course of MBBS, the total number of seats went up by about 82% between 2018-19 and 2023-24. In other words, it rose from 3,600 to 6,553. As for the Scheduled Castes (Arunthathiyars) or SC(A), the increase was a little more than 80% 107 in 2018-19 to 193 in 2023-24. In the case of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course, in 2018-19, the takers among SC(A) for the course hardly accounted for 1.5% of the total number of candidates but their figure rose to 3% five years later.
Supreme Court judgment backs validity of Tamil Nadu’s Arunthathiyar quota law
The DME, in its communication, stated that it did not collect data for the SC(A) category for the period from 2009-10 to 2017-18. However, the high level committee, constituted by the present DMK government in 2021, regarding the impact of NEET [National Eligibility cum Entrance Test] on medical admissions in Tamil Nadu, had stated that between 2010-11 and 2017-18, both in government and self-financed colleges, the quota of SC(A) had varied from 3.26% (in 2010-11) to 2.86% in 2015-16, in the case of government colleges, and from 2.98% (in 2011-12) to 2.66% (in 2016-17) with regard to self-financed colleges. Since 2017-18, admission to the medical courses in the State is done through the NEET.
With regard to admission to engineering courses, the strength of SC(A) students increased from 1,193 in 2009-10 to 3,944 in 2023-24. There was a rise of about 230% or an annual average growth rate of 15%. According to information available with this journalist independent of the DTE’s reply, given the fact that the SC(A)’s sub-quota is 16% of the overall SC quota, the share of the community’s students under the SCs was well below this figure fluctuating from 8.7% in 2016-17 to 14.6% in 2019-20.
Supreme Court judgment in Arunthathiyars Reservation Act case a recognition of Dravidian model, says Stalin
In mid August 2024, The Hindu addressed the query to the State Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare (ADTW) regarding the efficacy of the 2009 law in the last 15 years with regard to education and public employment. The query had also sought data with regard to the status of presence of the Arunthathiyars in the 15 years prior to the provision of the sub-quota.
The ADTW Department did not furnish consolidated information unlike what the Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department did last year with regard to another RTI query by a Chennai resident on the presence of Vanniyars and the remaining Most Backward Classes apart from Denotified Communities in education and jobs. However, it apparently forwarded the query to various other departments, which had, in turn, passed on to bodies and institutions coming under their jurisdiction.
As for the public employment, the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, which also follows 3% reservation for SC(A), has provided information with regard to the recruitment of SC(A) candidates for Sub-Inspectors of Police in 2010, 2015, 2019 and 2022, in addition to SI (technical) and (finger print) in 2018 and the joint recrutment for SIs (Taluk, Armed Reserve and Special Police) and Station Officers (Fire & Rescue Services). The highest number was 38 for SI in 2010 and the lowest was 10 for SI (finger print) in 2018. However, the Tamil Nadu Public Services Commission did not give any information, claiming the RTI Act application fee had not been paid, even though it was paid while sending the application to the ADTW Department.
The law Tamil Nadu Arunthathiyars Reservation Act, 2009 provides preferential treatment to Arunthathiyars among the Scheduled Castes (SCs). For the purpose of the law, seven castes Arunthathiyar, Chakkiliyan, Madari, Madiga, Pagadi, Thoti, and Adi Andhra in the list of 76 SCs notified by the President under Article 341 of the Constitution have been generically called the Arunthathiyars. The principle of elasticity in reservation has been adopted in the Act for the community, which is allowed to compete for non-preferential seats. In August last year, the Supreme Court backed the constitutional validity of the law.
The enactment of the legislation followed the submission of a report of the one-member committee headed by Justice (retired) M.S. Janarthanam to the State Government in November 2008. According to the findings of the panel, as quoted in a submission by the State before the Court last year, despite accounting for about 16% of the SC population in the State (as per the 2001 Census), the Arunthathiyars’ share within the SC quota was not in proportion to their population. It was only 8.76% in engineering courses and around 7.3% in MBBS, BDS and para medical courses. In the Groups A, B and C services of the State Government, the representation of the community was “grotesquely inadequate,” ranging from 7.14% and 6.72% in Group ‘A’ and ‘B’ services to 9.29 % in Group C. Only in the case of Group D, it was around 32.4%. Commenting on this aspect, the government, in its statement of object and reasons for the law, stated that “most of them [were] scavengers requiring no educational qualifications.”
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