Any democratic society faces the challenge of harmonizing two essentially contradictory political concepts- first, equality before law irrespective of religion, caste, creed, race and gender and second, social justice at the cost of the same commitment for equality before the law. In India, large numbers of people have been experiencing social discrimination and alienation through centuries on account of its peculiar social setting and the institution of the caste system. The discrimination suffered by the oppressed sections of the society over a long period of time has led to the concept of protective discrimination to safeguard their interests. The main reason behind protective discrimination is to provide the necessary facilities to the deprived sections and to bring them to the mainstream society on equal footings with others. Equality before law is the most precious democratic right of an Indian citizen but by merely ensuring equality of opportunity to all in respect of educational and employment opportunity, we may be ignoring the special problems of some backward sections of our society who have been suffered from social, political, economic, educational deprivation for hundreds of years.