How does the timing of affirmative action programs in India compare to the U.S.?

India implemented them before the U.S.

The correct answer is Option 3- India implemented them before the U.S.

The affirmative action programs in India were constitutionally entrenched much earlier than those in the U.S., which began after the 1964 Civil Rights Act.


The three core features which can also be seen as the achievements — of our Constitution:

First, our Constitution reinforces and reinvents forms of liberal individualism. This is an important achievement because this is done in the backdrop of a society where community values are often indifferent or hostile to individual autonomy.
Second, our Constitution upholds the principle of social justice without compromising on individual liberties. The constitutional commitment to caste-based affirmative action programme shows how much ahead India was compared to other nations. Can one forget that affirmative action programmes in the U.S. were begun after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, almost two decades after they were constitutionally entrenched in India?
Third, against the background of inter-communal strife, the Constitution upholds its commitment to group rights (the right to the expression of cultural particularity). This indicates that the framers of the Constitution were more than willing to face the challenges of what more than four decades later has come to be known as multiculturalism.