Youth For Equality

Youth For Equality (YFE) is an Indian organisation against caste-based policies and reservations, i.e. affirmative action. It was founded by students in a number of Indian universities in 2006. It organises demonstrations and legal challenges against caste-based policies.

Youth For Equality
AbbreviationYFE
MottoSay No to Caste Based Reservations
FormationApril 4, 2006
Founded atNew Delhi. India
TypeNational policy influencing Body
PurposeSay No to Caste Based policies and caste based Reservations
Location
  • India
Websitewww.youthforequality.com

History

Youth for Equality was founded on April 4, 2006 by students from All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Jawarharlal Nehru University (JNU), Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), and other central universities, amidst the protests against the The Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act 2005 that was introduced by the First Manmohan Singh ministry, which had granted a 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes in all Central Government institutions.[1] YFE organised massive anti-reservation demonstrations, where students engage in street protests across India.[2][3]

Later on, YFE took legal action against the Act, claiming that it violated the Basic Structure of the Constitution of India.[4] In March 2007, the Supreme Court of India granted an injunction to suspension of OBC reservations.[5] In April 2008, an 11-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court upheld and reinstated the Act in a 7-4 judgement delivered by Chief Justice India K. G. Balakrishnan, with Justice Dalveer Bhandari providing the dissenting opinion. OBC reservations were implemented in all central universities and institutions, but the government was required to exclude the creamy layer from the OBC (but not SC/ST) reservations.[6]

Youth For Equality contested in the JNU Student Union elections in 2006[7] and 2009 and Lok Sabha elections in 2009.[8]

In 2014, Youth For Equality challenged the Maratha reservations instituted by the Government of Maharashtra.[9]

On 10 January 2019, the group petitioned the Supreme Court against the Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill 2019, which had increased the cap on reservations from 50% to 60%, to accommodate the newly-defined Economically Weaker Sections, arguing that the law would violate the Supreme Court ruling in Indra Sawhney v Union of India.[10] On 6 August 2020, the court decided that a 5-member bench would hear the case.[11]

References
  1. "A regressive Bill". Frontline. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  2. "Students cry out: No reservation please - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  3. Capron, Christopher (2012-11-25). "Students and doctors protest reservation/affirmative-action system in India, 2006-2008". Global Nonviolent Action Database. Swarthmore College. Archived from the original on 2020-08-14. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
  4. "Youth For Equality". Youth for Equality.com. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  5. "Youth For Equality hails stay on OBC reservation". The Economic Times. 2007-03-29. Archived from the original on 2018-08-10. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  6. "SC upholds 93rd amendment to the Constitution which provides for Right to Education as a Fundamental Right [Read the Judgment] | Live Law". Live Law. 2014-05-06. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  7. "After YFE scare - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2018-10-29.
  8. "Youth for Equality launches a new political wing". The Hindu. 2009-03-19. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  9. "Reservation row: Marathas not a backward community, petitioners tell HC". Firstpost. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  10. Chowdhury, Shreya Roy (2019-01-11). "Meet the group that has challenged the 10% reservation for upper castes in the Supreme Court". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 2020-08-07. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
  11. "EWS - Plain English of Referral Order". Supreme Court Observer. Legal Observer Trust. 2020-08-06. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
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