People who are not covered under the existing scheme of reservations for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and whose family has a gross annual income below Rs.8.00 lakh are to be identified as EWSs for the benefit of reservation.
The same income limit has been adopted by the government for the determination of EWS beneficiaries, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar said in the Lok Sabha in a written reply today.
The prescribed condition for determining OBC candidates in the creamy layer and for determining EWS candidates is entirely different except that in both cases the income limit of Rs.8.00 lakh per annum is prescribed, the minister said.
In another reply, he said that as per the Census 2011, there are 413,670 beggars and vagrants in the country.
A Meeting was held with some of the NGOs/experts/states working in the field of beggary for comprehensive rehabilitation of people engaged in the act of begging. After the discussion, the ministry had initiated a pilot project on a comprehensive rehabilitation of these people in seven cities: Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Indore, Lucknow, Nagpur, and Patna.