Thank you for your letter of 26 April 2000. I agree with you in principle that there should be universal reservation but the quota for each social group will not depend on its population only but also on. its level of relative backwardness which can be measured with the backwardness level of SC/ST, indexed as 100.

The upper limit will be the total of the quotas of various groups. It cannot be set at an arbitrary figure. The quota should apply not only to public employment but to professional education, development benefits, welfare programmes, representation in legislature and access to bank credit.

Social groups whose population is less than 1% of the state (or national) population should either join a large group of their choice or aggregate among themselves to form a larger group.

For all this, it is essential to have caste census so that for each identifiable group, one can have cross-tabulated data which can  help in determining its level of backwardness.