* The Constitution (One hundred and seventeenth) Amendment Bill, introduced in Rajya Sabha Sep 4, seeks to amend at least four articles of the constitution to enable the government to provide quotas in promotions for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes who constitute roughly 25 percent of the country's 1.2 billion population.
* It seeks to remove the term 'inadequate representation' mentioned in Article 16(4A) to justify quotas in promotions and appointments. It also delinks the term 'efficiency of administration' from the claims of SC and ST for jobs and promotions, mentioned in Article 335.
* Article 335 of the constitution states that the claims of the SC and ST have to be balanced with maintaining efficiency in administration. The bill states the amendment will override the provision of Article 355.
* The Bill provides that all the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes notified in the constitution shall be deemed to be backward.
