"JNU Deprivation Points System: Addressing Structural Inequality in University Admissions"
Deprivation Points
Additional marks awarded to JNU applicants from structurally disadvantaged backgrounds, added to entrance scores before merit ranking.
Substantive Equality
The principle that achieving real equality may require differential treatment to correct structural disadvantage, not just identical treatment.
India's Constitution embeds social justice as a foundational value. Articles 15(4) and 16(4) empower the State to make special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes, including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. These provisions recognise that formal equality, treating everyone identically, does not produce substantive equality when people start from vastly different positions. The Seventh Schedule, List III (Concurrent List) places education under shared Union-State jurisdiction, making both levels of government responsible for expanding access.
The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, enacted after the 93rd Constitutional Amendment (2005), mandated statutory reservation in centrally funded institutions: 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, and 27% for OBC students. This framework addressed caste-based disadvantage. However, it left other structural disadvantages, regional underdevelopment, gender, and geographic isolation, largely unaddressed within the admissions architecture of most central universities. Jawaharlal Nehru University was established by an Act of Parliament with an explicit mandate to draw talent from across the country, not just from educationally privileged urban centres.
The deprivation points system is a supplementary affirmative action mechanism unique to JNU. It awards additional points to candidates before final merit is calculated, on top of their entrance test score. The maximum award is 12 deprivation points. The system operates across three dimensions: geographic, gender, and migrant status.
For the geographic dimension, districts are classified into Quartile 1 (backward) and Quartile 2 (relatively less backward) using four Census-based indicators: percentage of female illiteracy, percentage of agricultural workers, percentage of rural population, and percentage of households without an in-premises toilet. Undergraduate applicants from Quartile 1 districts receive six points; those from Quartile 2 receive four points. For postgraduate applicants, the corresponding figures are three and two points respectively. …
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Consider the following statements regarding JNU's deprivation points system:
1.The maximum number of deprivation points a candidate can receive is 12.
2.District classification into quartiles uses Census data on female illiteracy, agricultural workers, rural population, and households without in-premises toilets.
3.PhD programmes are currently covered under the deprivation points system.
4.Kashmiri migrants are eligible for five deprivation points.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Which Constitutional Amendment formally enabled reservation for Other Backward Classes in Central Universities in India?
With reference to affirmative action in higher education, consider the following pairs:
Type of Deprivation Addressed — Policy Instrument
1.Caste-based disadvantage — Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006
2.Geographic/regional deprivation — JNU Deprivation Points (Quartile Classification)
3.Gender disadvantage — JNU Deprivation Points (Female/Transgender category)
4.Economic deprivation — Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
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