"Development and welfare schemes for the vulnerable, by its nature, are discriminatory in approach." Do you agree? Give reasons…

The statement is partly true in form but misleading in substance. The two parts—targeted welfare and equality—interact: differential treatment is the instrument through which formal equality becomes substantive. Welfare schemes for the vulnerable do treat groups differently, but this is not discrimination in the constitutional sense; it is reasonable classification under Article 14, which permits classification based on intelligible differentia and rational nexus with the object. Formal equality treats all alike, while substantive equality recognises that caste, gender, disability, poverty and geography create different starting points. Articles 15(4) and 16(4) are enabling provisions allowing the State to make special provisions for SCs, STs, OBCs and other backward classes; Article 46, a non-enforceable DPSP, directs the State to protect them from social injustice and economic exploitation. Indra Sawhney (1992) upheld backward-class reservations as remedial, not punitive.

Schemes such as scholarships for SC/ST/OBC, Ayushman Bharat for the poor, and PM-KISAN—an income support for landholding farmer families subject to exclusion criteria—differentiate by objective disadvantage or eligibility, not arbitrary exclusion. Yet the approach can appear discriminatory when creamy-layer exclusion is contested, Aadhaar-linked delivery causes exclusion errors, or regional imbalances foster perceptions of reverse discrimination.

The tension is resolved by constitutional morality: differential treatment is permissible when it advances transformative equality. Universal schemes, where feasible, reduce exclusion errors, while targeted schemes correct structural disadvantage; demand-driven self-targeting schemes like MGNREGA (now succeeded by the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025) combine access with poverty relief. A way forward is a saturation approach, sunset clauses and periodic review, so that welfare corrects disadvantage without creating permanent dependency.