It is rarely that an income tax record is used to settle a social justice question in India. But that has happened in the report of the three-member committee formed by the Centre to revisit the definition “economically weaker section” (EWS) for reservation in education and jobs.

       It could also settle for the future, the penchant among departments to use surveys to figure out how welfare schemes work and instead using self-correcting feedback loops. But for the finance ministry, a new challenge has emerged. EWS limits and income tax exemption limits are now twinned, if the ...