The debate on reservation in India has perhaps been one of the longest standing debates for the nation. With approximately ninety percent of the population coming within the gambit of reservation, the question whether or not reservation should continue has plagued all discussions pertaining to the nation’s policymaking. However, there is no direct answer to the question. While one faction argues that reservation needs to continue as there has been no significant advancement in the state of the lower castes in India, another faction argues that reservation in fact reinforces discriminations among the various sections of the society.This debate finds more prominence today as we aim to become a developed nation. Development cannot solely be associated with the economic standard and international visibility of a nation but also by the socio-cultural behavior of its citizens. This article will try to evaluate the merits of the arguments afforded by both the factions and attempt to assess the true relevance of caste based reservation in India vis-à-vis its contemplated objective
Evolution of reservation in India
Anybody who has followed up on the Indian reservation system is well aware of
the fact that historically India is a caste-based society with several
segregations. Resultantly there has been a long-standing practice of
untouchability and mistreatment of those considered belonging to lower castes.
That is to say people doing jobs such as manual scavenging, dealing in removing
animal hides, cleaning toilets, making and mending shoes and other such odd jobs
that were considered “dirty”. Eventually the brunt of these occupation-based
discriminations was borne by many successive generations of these castes by
virtue of being born in the family irrespective of their future choice of
occupation.
The need for reservation arose as a measure towardsending this discrimination.
To put it simply, reservation was a means to facilitate equal opportunities to
that section of society which was hitherto denied the many basic human rights on
the basis of their birth.Historically, the idea of caste-based reservation was
first conceived by the Scot, William Hunter and a very prominent Indian activist
JyotiraoPhule, back in 1883. Eventually the idea took a shape of law and over
the years has seen multiple amendments to the same.
There are several landmark Supreme Court judgments that have since amended the
laws pertaining to reservation. The case
State of Madras v.
Smt.ChampakamDorairajan (1951), whichpronounced that caste based
reservations as per Communal Award violates basic rights,lead to the first
Constitutional Amendment stating that while Article 16(4) of the Constitution
provides for reservation for backward classes in employment, no such provision
was given in Article 15. Subsequently, Article 15 was amended and clause (4)
added ensuring that state had the authority to make special provision for the
advancement of backward classes of SC and ST.
In 1953, Kalelkar Commission was established to assess the situation of the
socially and educationally backward class. The commission took caste as the key
factor in determining the backward classes and accordingly suggested
reservations in various educational and government employment sectors, however
the government rejected the suggestion of commission that caste be the sole
indicator of backward classes and hence reservation cap was set to 27%.
There already existed a cap of 50% on all reservations, however in 1963, the
Court, in the case of M R Balaji V. Mysore, added that the state governments
could amend the limit of reservation in their individual states provided they
can establish that the said caste(s) indeed require special representation.
Until very recently only two states, Tamil Nadu (69%, under 9th Schedule) and
Rajasthan (68%) have exceeded this limit.
Similarly,
the Mandal Commission Report of 1979 was responsible for
adding the Other Backward Section (OBC) as another category of reservation in
the year 1991. Eventually there were many more instances of adding categories
and sub-categories to the quota over the years by the then politically relevant
groups and sub-groups, none of them without due protests from the general
category, which constantly felt threatened that their rightful opportunities
were being usurped by the quota system. The latest addition to the list of
amendments is the
Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Fourth Amendment) Bill
2019 brought into law by the President of India. It further amends Articles
15 and Article 16 of the Constitution adding a clause stating that government
can make special provisions for reservation of upto 10 percent for economically
weaker sections (EWS) of citizens in higher educational institutions as well as
in initial appointments in government services. Popularly being tagged as “Upper
Caste Reservation”
Continued Relevance of Reservation
Article 334 of the Constitution initially provided for reservation and special
representation of SC and ST in politics for an initial period of ten years,
pursuant to which a policy review of the situation would decide the next course
of action. However, 70 years later reservation continues and needless to say,
has become a major bone of contention. Despite the obvious evidence that it has
not served the purpose for which it was intended.
Does that mean the policy has achieved absolutely no results? It may be observed
that the minority political representation policy has been effective in reducing
the poverty of individuals close to poverty line. Even though the impact has
been more in urban areas than rural. Roughly, a 1% increase in SC representation
lead to a decrease in urban poverty by 0.2%. Similarly, there has been an
increase in the voter turn out, with more SC voters turning up in elections in
the constituencies with SC representations as compared to non SC constituencies.
However, for a country running these policies for past seven decades, this is a
sorry state of affairs.
A rough estimate of India’s caste analysis will make us
see that about 90% of the population belongs to the reserved category and yet,
the narrative of policy making is in the hands of the top 10%. While those
against the reservation argue that narrative is changing, a look at the ground
reality paints a very different picture. For instance, the small town of Kota in
Rajasthan has been declared open defecation free by the government, yet a field
visit of villages of that town will show that there are certain villages that
have no toilets and are far from open defecation free. What’s more, these
villages predominantly comprise of SCs. This begs the question, is this a mere
coincidence?
In terms of representation in government sector, it has been
observed that as the ranks rise, the representation of the SCs consistently
reduces. Currently, the highest posts of the Indian Administrative Services in
India has one ST representation and zero SC representation. One might argue that
the same is the result of merit, but that argument is as debatable as the lack
of female representations in important posts vis-à-vis merits. They are just not
considered an option out of the basic habit of long standing bias, which has
become so deeply ingrained in the system that its hard for the decision makers
to actually see the folly of their ways!
Most debates against reservation arise
from the idea that the reservation will better serve if its done based on
financial status rather than caste. For this one must first understand that more
often than not, one will find that economic standard and caste of an individual
largely go hand in hand. Which means, a more effective policy will be that of
bringing in the financial status and caste together to ascertain who should get
the benefits of reservation. Besides, one of the most important point that
people tend to overlook is that the purpose of reservation is far deeper than
economic elevation. It is about removing the concept scheduling a section of the
society as “other”. It is about instilling the idea that one’s birth is not the
marker of their true worth in the society. Where traditional orthodoxy is
contrary to the basic tenets of humanity, the law needs to interfere and insist
on creating a renewed status quo. Today’s affirmative action may hopefully
transform into tomorrow’s cultural mindset.
As long as we keep seeing
reservation as a bias towards and against a certain section of the society, we
will keep finding ways to deny the over arching truth that majority of us are
still uncomfortable with the idea of equality. There has to be an acceptance of
law. We have to believe that the person who has been given reservation has
actually been given opportunity to come on a level playing field with those who
already are ahead in the game by virtue of their caste.
Way Forward Does that
mean that the arguments of those saying that reservation is unfairly putting the
general category at a disadvantage, wrong? We have to see Reservation as a
medicine to the illness of caste inequality. Ideally one stops the medicine when
either the disease is cured or when there is a better medicine available.
Despite decades of affirmative action we are no where near curing the ailment.
So far as a better medicine is concerned, there hasn’t been an effective one in
the long run. Thus, the existing treatment needs to continue. Notably, certain
effective changes may be considered, such as creamy layer in not just OBC but
also ST and SC category, whereby those castes which have been enjoying the
benefits of reservation for a period of three generations or more may be removed
from the list so that other reserved castes which have been deprived may be
better represented. Instead of providing merit relaxation in higher educational
institutions, there should be financial relaxations for the reserved categories.
Merit relaxation along with financial relaxation should be made compulsory in
the primary education so that the kids are equally and efficiently prepared for
the higher education. This of course is subject to the government ensuring
effective application of Right to Education Act, and strict assessment quality
of education imparted in the public schools.
Apart from this, there are certain
things that every individual at their level can do, to possibly move towards a
disease free state existence. First and foremost, they should create an
awareness amongst their peers about the need for such an affirmative action by
engaging in dialogue rather than an adversarial argument. The ten percent need
to be taken into confidence and explained that the reservation is not the enemy
they need to fight. It is the lack of effective policy making that needs to be
addressed. Reservation is merely a means of regulating and reallocating the
theopportunities and services of the state in such a manner that everyone
equally benefits from it, irrespective of their social background. Education
system should be formulated in such a manner that the students are sensitised
towards the issue of caste discrimination and should be encouraged to engage in
solution oriented debates. It should be the responsibility of every parent to
instil in their children empathy towards the underprivileged not with a view to
victimise or pity them but rather uplift them. An educated awareness can help
unite the two factions of the society and perhaps create a more tolerant society
moving forward.
Author Information: Ekta Rai
Lawyer practicing in Delhi NCR with
an interest in social justice.
Email: erai22@yahoo.com
Published on 23 October 2019
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this commentary are author's personal observations.