NEW DELHI
India’s top court on Thursday upheld an affirmative action program reserving more than a quarter of the seats at the country’s top government-funded schools for members of the lower castes.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled that lower-caste students belonging to financially well-off families should not be allowed to benefit from the program.
A complex hereditary system divides Hindus into castes, and those on the lower rungs of the ladder still face discrimination, even though the system was made illegal nearly six decades ago.
Last year, the government announced that 27 percent of seats at India’s prestigious state-run professional schools would be set aside for lower-caste students. That was in addition to 22.5 percent of seats already reserved for India‘s indigenous peoples and its dalits, or untouchables, who have no caste and have suffered centuries of severe, often violent discrimination.
That announcement was met by countrywide protests, mainly led by upper-caste students, and the program was stopped by a court panel until its legality could be reviewed.
The government hailed Thursday’s court ruling.
