Tamil Nadu Timeline

Social ReformRise of Dravidian rule

Sattanathan Backward Classes Commission

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Sattanathan Backward Classes Commission
Government of Tamil Nadu, GODL-India · Wikimedia Commons

The first Backward Classes Commission of Tamil Nadu, headed by A. N. Sattanathan, recommended a separate Most Backward Class category.

The Karunanidhi government appointed the state's first Backward Classes Commission, headed by A. N. Sattanathan, in 1969. Its report of 1970 said that a better-off section within the backward classes was taking a large share of the benefits of reservation. It proposed a separate category of Most Backward Classes and an expansion of quotas. Its recommendations shaped later reservation policy, including the 1971 increase in quotas and the 1979 income limit.

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  2. 1921

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  3. 1971

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      Reservation raised to 49 percent

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  4. 1979

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  5. 1980

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  6. 1989

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      Separate 20% quota for Most Backward Classes

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

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