Article 15 — Prohibition of Discrimination

(1) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

(2) 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 — (a) access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or (b) 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.

(3) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children.

(4) 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.

(5) Nothing in this article or in sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of Article 19 shall prevent the State from making any special provision, by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions...

(6) Nothing in this article or sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of article 19 or clause (2) of article 29 shall prevent the State from making — (a) any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clauses (4) and (5)... [EWS reservation, added by 103rd Amendment, 2019]

Source: Constitution of India, as published by the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The original text of Article 15 prohibited discrimination but permitted reservations only for scheduled castes and tribes (via Article 16(4)). The First Constitutional Amendment (1951) inserted clause (4) explicitly allowing reservations for OBCs after the Supreme Court in State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan (1951) struck down communal reservation orders. The 93rd Amendment (2005) added clause (5) covering private educational institutions following the dispute over the constitutional validity of reservations in Unni Krishnan and subsequent Right to Education jurisprudence. The 103rd Amendment (2019) added clause (6) to enable the 10% EWS reservation.

• 1st Amendment (1951) — Inserted clause (4) permitting special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes.
• 93rd Amendment (2005) — Inserted clause (5) to extend reservation to private unaided educational institutions.
• 103rd Amendment (2019) — Inserted clause (6) creating 10% reservation for economically weaker sections.

• Article 14
• Article 16
• Article 46

Last reviewed: 1 June 2026