Horizontal and Vertical Reservations
🧾 Horizontal vs Vertical Reservation in India
India's reservation system is divided into two main types: Vertical and Horizontal reservations. Understanding the difference between them is crucial to grasp how social justice policies are applied fairly across different groups.
🔷 1. Vertical Reservation
📌 What is it?
Vertical reservation refers to reservation for broad social categories based on caste or community.
These include:
Scheduled Castes (SC)
Scheduled Tribes (ST)
Other Backward Classes (OBC)
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)
✅ Key Features:
Based on social and educational backwardness or economic disadvantage.
Fixed percentage quotas (e.g., 15% SC, 7.5% ST, 27% OBC, 10% EWS in central jobs/education).
Mutually exclusive: A person belongs to only one vertical category.
🔷 2. Horizontal Reservation
📌 What is it?
Horizontal reservation cuts across all vertical categories.
It’s provided to specific vulnerable groups, such as:
Women
Persons with Disabilities (PwD)
Ex-Servicemen
Dependents of Armed Forces personnel
Sports persons (in some cases)
✅ Key Features:
It is applicable within each vertical category.
For example, there can be OBC-women, SC-disabled, or EWS-ex-servicemen.
Not an additional reservation, but a sub-quota within each vertical category.
📊 Visual Comparison
| Feature | Vertical Reservation | Horizontal Reservation |
|---|---|---|
| Based on | Caste/class/economic group | Gender, disability, service background |
| Examples | SC, ST, OBC, EWS | Women, PwD, Ex-servicemen |
| Structure | Separate, fixed categories | Cuts across all vertical categories |
| Purpose | Social/economic upliftment | Inclusion of specific vulnerable groups |
| Mutually exclusive? | Yes | No – can overlap with vertical reservation |
🎯 Example:
Imagine there are 100 seats and 27 are reserved for OBCs (vertical). If 33% horizontal reservation is for women, then 9 of the 27 OBC seats must go to OBC women.
So, horizontal reservation operates within the vertical categories.
📝 Summary:
Vertical reservation = Caste/class/economic group-based.
Horizontal reservation = For special groups, applicable within each vertical group.
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