LegislationMadras State (Congress era)
First Amendment enables reservation for backward classes
Parliament passed the First Amendment, allowing special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru moved the First Amendment of the Constitution of India on 10 May 1951, and Parliament enacted it on 18 June 1951. Among other changes it added a clause permitting the state to make special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The amendment was a response to the Champakam Dorairajan judgement and to protests in Madras State against it. It restored the legal basis for caste-based reservation in education in Tamil Nadu and the rest of India.
