http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article2166.htmlMainstream, Vol XLVIII No 27, June 26, 2010
Whither Reservations?
Sheetal Sharma
As the final phase of the intake of OBCs quota in educational
institutions—such as central universities, IIMs, IITs, AIIMS,
institutions funded or managed under the aegis of the Central
Government—is going to be accomplished in the coming session, there is
a sense of satisfaction that another step has been taken for the
upliftment of the socially backward sections of society. Hitherto, the
backward castes and communities have been denied any attempt to rise
socially; thus it is our obligation to ensure social justice and
equality. It is purported that through means of affirmative action,
such as reservation in educational and occupational opportunities, the
backward castes and downtrodden communities (including Scheduled
Castes and Tribes) can free themselves from the shackles of age-old
discrimination. Although it would take some years before we can
actually realise the consequences of these policy initiatives, it is
appropriate time to reflect upon the process through which we are
expecting to achieve a 'desired' product—a society free of caste-based
discrimination.
•
CASTE defines the structural reality of the Indian society and
constitutes the very fabric of the Indian social system. In Ambedkar's
words, "The Caste System is not merely a division of labour. It is
also a division of labourers. Civilised society undoubtedly needs
division of labour. But in no civilised society is division of labour
accompanied by this unnatural division of labourers into watertight
compartments. The Caste System is not merely a division of labourers
which is quite different from division of labour—it is a hierarchy in
which the divisions of labourers are graded one above the other. In no
other country is the division of labour accompanied by this gradation
of labourers." (Section IV, Annihilation of Caste. Vol-I, Dr Babasaheb
Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches) Access to opportunities and status is
intrinsically rooted in one's caste status. Conventionally, the birth
in a particular caste predetermines and defines the status and
profession of an individual. The caste identity precedes any other
form of identity and in extremes of cases even the fact that an
individual is a 'human being'. In practice this reality creates caste
consciousness among the practitioners of the caste system and governs
his/her social interaction with other such identities. More often than
not interaction between asymmetrically ranked caste identities results
in social exclusion, lack of self-esteem, stigma, discrimination, and
denial of equality in various spheres of life. The social and cultural
sources of exclusion and inhuman discrimination are deeply entrenched
in our institutions and social structure, and are established as
reified reality. Poverty and penury are just economic manifestation of
this subterranean structural rootedness.
With few exceptions, for centuries the philosophers, leaders,
enlightened intellectuals, and godmen could not, or chose not to, see
any irregularity in the established order; perhaps their vision and
perception was being myopic and blighted by their own position in the
entire social arrangement. The task to change the character and
characteristics of such an order was daunting, nevertheless,
achievable. The much needed empathetic understanding from the
perspective of the 'oppressed' could not take place until Ambedkar
began to see caste-based discrimination as some kind of challenge to
the extent that he placed social freedom precedent to political
freedom. He saw restoration of dignity to fellow citizens as
important, if not more, as freedom from foreign yoke. Ambedkar, the
architect of the Constitution of India and one of the leading
advocates of civil rights, tried to turn the Wheel of Law towards
social justice for 'all'.
After independence, it was realised that historical deprivation,
continuing discrimination and persistent disparity call for state
initiative or affirmative action. The state, through pronunciation of
its normative prescription of secularism and democracy, took up to
guarantee all its citizens equality, liberty, and freedom from
exploitation. State sponsored mobility for backward castes and
communities was perceived as a means of compensation for injustices,
deprivation, and discrimination which these communities have suffered
historically and in fact continue to suffer. For safeguarding their
interests and accelerating socio-economic development it was realised
that these communities need special provisions. A policy of
reservations was instituted in order to combat social disability,
economic backwardness, and other handicaps confronted by them in
getting reasonable representation in elected offices, government jobs,
and educational institutions. Article 46 of the Constitution of India
states that "the State shall promote, with special care, the education
and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in
particular of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and shall
protect them from social injustice and all forms of social
exploitation". Articles 330, 332, 335, 338 to 342 and the entire Fifth
and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution deal with special provisions
for implementation of the objectives set forth in Article 46. There is
no denying the fact that the reservation policy, as enunciated through
Articles referred to above of the Constitution of India, has paid rich
dividends in terms of welfare of the deprived sections of the society.
However, the overall picture remains one of immense inequity. The
antidote to exploitation and discrimination in the form of reservation
was expected to throw up some promising results and heal the system,
if not overhaul, in ten years time from its inception. Ten years were
envisaged as the optimum period by the framers of the legislative
initiative. Attempts were made so that the wrongs of inaccessibility,
denial, and subjugation can be evened out by state sponsored
intervention by guaranteeing access and control through entitlements
and reservations. But even after more than sixty years of symptomatic
treatment of the malaise and administration of the same dosage, the
system is nowhere close to being healthy.
•
RESERVATIONS in general have failed despite developing certain pockets
of excellence in caste groups and defined areas and blinding with
occasional sparks of brilliance in terms of the K.R. Narayanans,
G.M.C. Balayogis occupying highest constitutional posts of the
President and Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The reservation system has not
delivered for even a substantial proportion of backward castes and
communities, not to mention the entire chunk. It is even argued that
it has created a further class among the hitherto homogenous backward
castes and communities who have turned out to be perpetrators of the
same discrimination, accentuating the differences among various castes
and within the same caste. What actually went wrong? Whither
reservations? Whither affirmative action? The issue needs
dispassionate examination, more so in the dynamic context of
globalisation and liberalisation. Here are some points for
consideration.
First, the decade after independence was the age of state sponsored
mixed economy with the private sector having no or minimal role. The
discourse in the pre-liberalisation era was the discourse of
government institutions, govern-ment schools, and government jobs;
whereas in the 21st century it is the discourse of the euphemistically
called public but exclusively private schools, private companies, and
private jobs. The response to global competition and free market
should logically necessitate equipping the population in general, and
marginalised groups in particular, with an uptodate set of skills and
education. The government sector is not expanding or at least not
growing as fast; therefore its capacity to provide jobs is becoming
limited. Notwith-standing the economic and human development
indicators showing general upward mobility since donning the garb of
liberalisation, there are discernible signs of the yawning gaps
between the rich and poor sections of the society getting still deeper
with the passage of time. Moreover, development has remained primarily
concentrated in urban and metro areas where the social divide is less
visible than the economic divide, but here too the higher rungs of the
economic hierarchy are disproportionately occupied by the socially
privileged classes. In this scenario it becomes imperative to think of
a new and effective planning strategy for the development of the
weaker sections of the population. Perhaps the time has come, as an
old saying goes, 'to teach them how to fish rather than giving them a
fish'. Only that path would create a far-reaching and sustainable
generation of capacity and wealth among the downtrodden sections of
society. The country is passing through a phase of transformation.
These transformations in the social scenario as well as the economic,
cultural, and political landscape have not been reflected and/or
accounted for in alteration, addition, or reformulation of the
reservation policy since the 1950s when it was originally
conceptualised and crystallised. The policy of affirmative action has
almost remained static in a highly dynamic and rapidly changing
external environment.
Second, the duality in the education system perpetuates and
crystallises the pre-existing fault-lines. Whatever cement is provided
by the reservation policy is eaten up by the increasingly polarising
duality in the education system. There are public schools of the genre
of DPS, Doon, Springdales, Sanskriti, Goenkas, and now private
universities like Amity have higher advertise-ment and publicity
budget than scholarships for the disadvantaged or socially backward
groups. Driven by the economic logic the DPS-Goenka-Doon-Amity cannot
afford to have a socially just and equitable agenda. In the US
schooling for almost everyone is the same. In India, we have developed
a system of schooling exhibiting a stark contrast between public and
private schools; and unlike the US, the government-run schools in
India lack both quality and commitment. This has complicated the
problem rather than resolved it. Through this duality in standards of
education, and availability of facilities for co-curricular
activities, the system is perpetuating inequality and widening the
chasm between the sections rather than addressing it. The education
system in India is thus sealing the fate of the underprivileged rather
than liberating them.
Third, the greatest vindication of the reservation system is the
beginning of a struggle among castes to get in, and equally vehement
opposition from those in there, into the Schedule of Castes and
Tribes. The castes that figure in the list of Scheduled Castes,
Schedule Tribes, and OBCs have become a closed group representing a
one-way traffic, where there is a way into it but no way out of it for
the caste as a whole or even for an individual. The list has become a
static reality rather than a dynamic group having both entry and exit
designed on rigorous, objective and impartial parameters. The caste
has been accepted, by the hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Indira
Sawhney vs Union of India, as an entity that can be and in fact is the
most visible entity for discrimination and subjugation in the Indian
social milieu. Based on the selected parameters the need for
continuous inclusion and exclusion for the caste groups and the
beneficiaries, or otherwise socially forward/ elites, cannot be over
emphasised. Without this process, reservation would continue to serve
a microcosm of politicians eating out of the system. For obvious
reasons these people have vested interest in perpetuation of this
format and interestingly they are also the competent authority to
bring a change in it. Seeing the non-trickling down of benefits
envisaged under the quota regime as failure of the reservation policy
as an effective and practical tool of state sponsored mobility, the
question is: what is to be done? The provision to put in a bar in
terms of a creamy layer too contains inherent opposition. The
definition and criterion to determine the creamy layer for the OBCs
and SCs need not necessarily mean the same. In the case of the SCs
peculiarities and realities of deprivation, discrimination and
oppression suffered have to be factored in, and the economic criterion
may completely be kept out. However, this inheres another danger that
then there may also be a premium in being below the creamy layer. An
individual who might be due for promotion into, say, a class I service
at the maturity of his career thus getting into the fold of the creamy
layer, might just sacrifice it to keep the benefit going for his
progeny. It is true that centuries of subjugation and generations of
oppression cannot be washed or done away by availing benefit over a
single generation. In fact, there is no standard measure to judge
exactly in how many generations these benefits would be able to wash
up this discrimination.
•
THE growth of urbanisation is having a far-reaching effect on caste
practices not only in cities but in rural areas as well. Among
anonymous crowds in urban public spaces caste affiliations are unknown
and observance of purity and pollution rules is negligible. The
distinctive social features of caste have become weak, and names have
been modified. Restrictions on interactions with other castes are
becoming more relaxed, and, at the same time, observance of other
caste defined rules is declining. As new occupations open up in urban
areas, the correlation of caste with occupation is declining. But
despite these changes caste still remains a dominant source of
identity, and much of socio-economic, political, and cultural
interaction occurs through caste connections. Any effort reinforcing
fragmented caste identities and caste-based reservation entails a
deeper look at the phenomenon of globalisation, urbanisation and the
emerging professional avenues for 'caste-beings' nee human beings. Why
and how can we gravitate towards the very system from which we are
attempting to disassociate? Sociologically speaking, the intent and
content of the reservation policy is to bring the asymmetrically
located communities in the social hierarchy at par with each other and
let the benefit be spread across families, communities and
geographies. The objective of the policy of affirmative action is to
broadbase the benefitting groups so as to fade prejudiced perceptions
from public memory now, and forever. The rationale and purpose is not
to promote and/or uplift certain families or people but to spread the
reach and effect of benefit across spectrum, as wide as possible. Does
that call for relooking at the intent and content of the reservation
policy?
Dr Sheetal Sharma is an Assistant Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi.
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