Problem with income based affirmative actions: Case of Maharashtra Government announcement on 13th October 2016
Maharashtra government recently (13 th October 2016) declared that EBC (Economically backward class) benefits limit will now cover incomes up to 6 lakhs and students from all castes will get fee reimbursement. ( news here ) ( Government resolution, in real terse Marathi, is here ) These benefits are not really comparable to caste based affirmative actions, though there is some comparable element. The main argument that I want to make here is: ‘if it is easy to show lower income to claim benefits, then income based affirmative actions will generate large proportion of wrongful beneficiaries.’ I understand that this is a very common-sense claim. And, that’s what makes Maharashtra government’s decision a real curious one. Either it is complete naivety (which I think is less likely) or systematic disregard of efficiency motivated by political calculations (common tool among ruling politician’s armoury). I do not have any systematic evidence on how easy...