ABSTRACT
Affirmative actions have a long history in Indian equality and discrimination law, and reservations in the form of quotas in educational institutions and public employment have been the central tool to address historical discrimination faced by SCs/STs due to the traditional caste hierarchy based on disadvantaged status. To understand the presence and inclusion of dominant groups and the process of constitutional shift, it is important to analyse the foundations of reservation policy extended in favour of three major groups of SCs/STs on the one hand and OBCs on the other. This chapter provides a descriptive and historical account of affirmative action policies in post-colonial India and the method of group demarcation. It importantly also provides clarity on the taxonomy of beneficiary classes and various concepts at play in affirmative action jurisprudence.
