Tamil Nadu Timeline

Social ReformDMK-AIADMK alternation

Separate 20% quota for Most Backward Classes

· Chennai

The DMK government split the 50% backward class quota into 30% for Backward Classes and 20% for Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities.

Following the Vanniyar agitation of 1987, the DMK government led by M. Karunanidhi created a separate Most Backward Classes category in 1989. The existing 50 percent backward class quota was divided into 30 percent for Backward Classes and 20 percent for Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities. Vanniyars were among the communities placed in the new category. In 1990 a separate 1 percent quota for Scheduled Tribes was carved out, bringing total reservation in the state to 69 percent.

Related events

  1. 1921

    1. 1921ChennaiLegislation

      First Communal Government Order on reservation

      The Justice Party government issued the first Communal Government Order, reserving government posts for different communities.

  2. 1979

    1. Jul 1979 to 21 Jan 1980ChennaiSocial Reform

      Income ceiling introduced for backward class reservation

      The MGR government introduced an annual income ceiling to exclude better-off families from backward class reservation.

  3. 1980

    1. 21 Jan 1980ChennaiSocial Reform

      Income ceiling withdrawn, backward class quota raised to 50%

      After electoral setbacks, the MGR government withdrew the income ceiling and raised the backward class quota from 31% to 50%.

  4. 1989

    1. 16 Jul 1989ChennaiPolitics

      Pattali Makkal Katchi founded

      S. Ramadoss founded the Pattali Makkal Katchi, a party rooted in the Vanniyar Sangam and the 1987 reservation agitation.

  5. 1990

    1. 1990ChennaiSocial Reform

      Separate 1 percent reservation for Scheduled Tribes

      The Karunanidhi government split the combined SC/ST quota and gave Scheduled Tribes a separate 1 percent reservation.

  6. 1994

    1. Aug 1994ChennaiLegislation

      69% reservation Act placed in the Ninth Schedule

      Through the 76th Amendment, the Constitution's Ninth Schedule came to include Tamil Nadu's 1993 law that kept reservation at 69%.

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