The right to equality is one of the
six rights that have been granted to us. In the Indian Constitution this
right have been described as:
The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of
religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place
of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability,
restriction or condition with regard to access to shops, public
restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or the use of
wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort
maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use
of the general public.
Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special
provision for women and children.
Nothing in this article or in clause (2) of article 29 shall prevent
the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any
socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
Equal opportunity for all:
There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters
relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State. No
citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent,
place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or
discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the
State.
Nothing in this article shall prevent Parliament from making any law
prescribing, in regard to a class or classes of employment or
appointment to an office under the Government of, or any local or other
authority within, a State or Union territory, any requirement as to
residence within that State or Union territory prior to such employment
or appointment.
Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any
provision for reservation in matters of promotion to any class or
classes of posts in the services under the State in favour of the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes which, in the opinion of the
State, are not adequately represented in the services under the State.
Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from considering any
unfilled vacancies of a year which are reserved for being filled up in
that year in accordance with any provision for reservation made under
clause (4) or clause (4A) as a separate class of vacancies to be filled
up in any succeeding year or years and such class of vacancies shall not
be considered together with the vacancies of the year in which they are
being filled up for determining the ceiling of fifty per cent.
reservation on total number of vacancies of that year.
Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any law which
provides that the incumbent of an office in connection with the affairs
of any religious or denominational institution or any member of the
governing body thereof shall be a person professing a particular
religion or belonging to a particular denomination.