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5 RGNUL Student Rsch. Rev. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/rgnlstresh5 and id is 1 raw text is: THE 124TH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: PROGRESSIVELY REALISING ECONOMIC EQUALITY AND EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY THE 124TH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: PROGRESSIVELY REALISING ECONOMIC EQUALITY AND EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY Bhumika Modh*, Dhanisha O Girjan**, TVedashree Kurukuri* May I ask who are the backward class of ctizens?... It does not say caste.' It says 'class.' Is it a class which is based on grounds of economic status or on grounds of literagy or on grounds of birth? What is it?' Of the many things the Indian Constitution is known for, it is most known for its flexibility.2 It is a perception of many, that Constitutions are living documents and must be read in the same way by judges and jurists alike. Balkin neutralises the debate between originalism and living constitutionalism by calling the two ideas 'compatible rather than opposed' and offering a constitutional theory called framework ornginalism. This views the American Constitution as an initial framework for governance that sets politics in motion, which must be filled out over time through constitutional construction.' Though the American Constitution is at the opposite end of the spectrum of Constitutional flexibility, Balkin's theory may be applicable to the Indian Constitution also, especially in the matter of the reservation policy in India. It is not wrong to say that the reservation policy in the Constitution of India is a framework which was to be filled by the succeeding lawmakers after the Constituent Assembly. To understand the current status of the reservation system in India in its entirety, it is important to understand the purpose behind the policy. At the time of independence, there were many sections of the society which were backward in terms of their social, economic and *Assistant Professor and Chair, Co-Curricular Programmes, School of Law, Alliance University, Bangalore. **5ff year student, BA LLB (Hons.), Alliance University, Bangalore. **5th year student, BBA LLB (Hons.), Alliance University, Bangalore. 1 Constituent Assembly Debates, 7, 30/11/1948, TT Krishnamachari, ¶ 191. 2 Where traditionalists prefer a rigid Constitution, the trend is in favour of a flexible Constitution; Griinne De Birca and Joanne Scott, Consdtutional Change in the EU: From Uniformity to Flexibity, Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2000. 3 Jack M. Balkin, Living Orginalism, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2014. g 1