Analyze the distinguishing features of the notion of Right to Equality in the Constitutions of the USA and India. (Answer in 250…

(a) Constitutional basis: In the USA, equality rests on the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, requiring states to treat similarly situated persons alike. India's Articles 14-18 build a broader architecture: equality before law and equal protection (Article 14), non-discrimination (Article 15), equality in public employment (Article 16), abolition of untouchability (Article 17) and of titles (Article 18). The American model is largely formal equality focused on state non-discrimination; India's is substantive equality aimed at removing structural disadvantage.

(b) Tests of classification: The US applies tiered scrutiny: strict scrutiny for suspect classes such as race, intermediate scrutiny for sex, and rational basis for the rest. India uses reasonable classification, but since E.P. Royappa v. State of Tamil Nadu (1974) Article 14 also forbids arbitrariness; Maneka Gandhi (1978) linked equality with due process, and Shayara Bano (2017) applied manifest arbitrariness to strike down a law.

(c) Special measures: US affirmative action is a judicially policed exception; after Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023), race-conscious admissions are largely barred. India's Constitution expressly enables special provisions for backward classes, SCs and STs under Articles 15(4) and 16(4), and Janhit Abhiyan (2022) upheld the EWS quota.

(d) Reach: The Equal Protection Clause binds only state action, leaving private discrimination to legislation. India's Articles 15(2) and 17 directly reach private conduct, in public places and in untouchability.