Context: The Andhra Pradesh government announced 10% reservation for the Kapu community and other Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) for appointments in the initial posts and services in State government in accordance with the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019.

Key Points

• Persons who are not covered under the existing scheme of reservations for SCs, STs and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and whose gross annual family income is below Rs 8 lakh are to be identified as EWS for the benefit of reservation.
• The income includes income from all sources i.e. salary, agriculture, business, profession etc. for the financial year prior to the year of application.
• The term family for this purpose will include the person who seeks benefit of reservation, his or her parents and siblings below the age of 18 years as also his or her spouse and children below the age of 18 years.
• One-third of the initial appointments will be allocated to women among them. This reservation will be horizontal.
• The beneficiary has to obtain the necessary EWS certificates from the Tahsildars concerned.

Who are Kapu?

• Kapu community is found primarily in Andhra Pradesh. The community constitute 27 percent of about five crore population of Andhra Pradesh.
• They are primarily an agrarian community, forming a heterogeneous peasant caste.
• Kapu literally means cultivator or agriculturist in Telugu.
• They are classified as a Forward Caste in Andhra Pradesh, where they are the dominant community in the districts of East Godavari and West Godavari.
• All Kapus were classified as forming a backward caste in 1915 by the British government of the Madras Presidency. But in 1956 the government of Andhra Pradesh removed Kapus from the list of backward castes.
• In early 2016, the Kapus of the residual Andhra Pradesh state launched an agitation demanding the OBC status, leading to violent protests
• They are distinct from three other Kapu communities that were present in the state prior to its bifurcation with the creation of Telangana in 2014.
• The Munnuru Kapu are found primarily in Telangana, the Turpu Kapu in the areas of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam, and the Balija in Rayalaseema.
• The first two of these other three communities are classified as Other Backward Classes.

103rd Constitutional Amendment Act

• The Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019 has empowered the state to provide up to 10 per cent reservation in education and public employment for economically weaker sections (EWS) of citizens other than the Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST), and the non-creamy layer of the Other Backward Classes (OBC-NCL).
• The reservation for the new category is over and above the existing scheme of 15 per cent, 7.50 per cent and 27 per cent reservations respectively for the SC, ST and OBC-NCL thus bringing the total reservations to 59.50 per cent.
• It has amended Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution.
• The new clause of Article 15 allows the state to make any ‘special provision’ including reservation in admissions to educational institutions other than minority educational institutions under Article 30(1).
• The new clause of Article 16 allows reservations in appointments or posts under the state.
• This amendment now validates economic backwardness as the sole criterion for a new category of reservation.
• The central government will notify the “economically weaker sections” of citizens on the basis of family income and other indicators of economic disadvantage.