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This was what it was like at NLSIU in the 90s and early 2000s: 80 seats. 57 merit, 3 foreign national, 20 SC/ST. Other NLUs were similar. As a consequence, the crowd at these NLUs were quite elite: children of the rich and famous. The same kind of crowd one sees at Jindal today. In fact, there is an interview of Sudhir Krishnaswamy, shortly after taking over as VC, where he confesses surprise at the modest backgrounds of NLSIU students today compared with his time.
Then when the UPA 1 came to power, HRD minister Arjun Singh added OBC reservation to the existing SC/ST reservation. There were nationwide protests by general castes, but the move came through as general castes are not electorally influential due to lower numbers. Many states gradually classified Muslim backward castes as OBC. This policy was instrumental in UPA 2 being elected in 2009 by a bigger margin. Essentially, the M-Y experiment of the Samajwadi Party and RJD implemented successfully nationally.
Gradually, NLUs started implementing domicile reservation, despite criticism from alumni and students (notably, at NLSIU and NUJS). Then Modi introduced EWS reservation, to assist the general caste supporters of the BJP who were financially weak but ineligible for reservation (though SC/ST/OBC candidates can also avail of EWS reservation).
Today, the number of reserved seats outnumbers the number of merit seats in most NLUs. In some NLUs, it is as high as 80%.
Meanwhile, Jindal came up during this period, with a reservation model that has zero caste reservation, but a small number of financial scholarships and some reservation for Haryana domicile. The Haryana domicile seats are often allotted to non-Haryanvis from elite Gurugram schools, who are Tamils or Bengalis or Maharashtrians. 😅 But some from Haryanvi backgrounds are taken in to keep the government happy.
That’s the story of reservation in law schools!