It’s some more of a good thing

The only significant initiative taken up by Congressmen vis-a-vis the OBCs was in Madhya Pradesh after the Mandal report was submitted to the Government of India. In 1981, Arjun Singh, the then Chief Minister, appointed a Backward Classes Commission named after its chairman, Ramji Mahajan. The Commission’s survey—an unprecedented endeavour in Madhya Pradesh—revealed that in 1981-82, a mere 2.2 per cent of OBC children attended school in class 9 to 11. The report recommended that 35 per cent seats be reserved to OBC seeking admission in educational institutions run or aided by the government. The Mahajan Commission recommended also a 35 per cent reservation in all governmental, semi-governmental and public sector services. The Arjun Singh government implemented two additional, minor, recommendations regarding quotas for OBCs at technical colleges and for scholarships from class 5 to higher studies. This decision was challenged before the High Court which issued a stay order. This episode illustrates that at least some Congressmen have been aware for quite sometime that a special effort needs to be made for education and job reservations for the OBCs. It also suggests that their party has not been very persistent and, in fact, positive discrimination has never been an important issue on the agenda of the Congress. The scant attention paid to the OBCs by the Congress precipitated its decline in the Hindi belt after this group became a key player of electoral politics in the 1990s. But gathering votes is not the only reason why the Congress is well advised to press for a policy of reservations in higher education and the private sector.

The liberalisation of the economy is automatically resulting in widening the gap between the haves and the have nots. No doubt that everybody benefits from the 8 per cent growth rate, but it is undeniable that those who have some financial and intellectual capitals are in a much better position to seize the new opportunities. Now absolute deprivation is less important than relative deprivation in the making of revolutions because the poor look at the gap between them and the other rather than at their situation in abstracto. India needs to find safeguards if she wants to defuse feelings of frustration that may derail her new path and trigger the anti-incumbency reflex among voters. The Rural Employment Security Scheme is one step in this direction, reservations in the higher education and the private sector would be another significant step.

First of all, education is what everybody wants today. That itself is a formidable achievement that reflects the growing awareness about the changing economy and that the new opportunities require more skills and training. But people are keenly aware of the widening gap between the elite teaching institutions and the run of the mill. The rehabilitation of the poor universities should be the top priority, but reservations for OBCs in elite institutions are also essential. Without this, these castes will never become part of the establishment. This would be a big loss and would heighten tensions. The trajectory of the Indian democracy hinges on an open society with an inclusive elite. Last but not least, one must assess the benefits that accrue to Dalits from reservations when they sometimes belong to families better off than OBC families. This results in feelings of injustice not only among OBCs but among poor brahmins as well; I shall return to this point later.

Second, the private sector cannot and must not remain outside the ambit of reservations when it is gaining momentum by the hour. What does positive discrimination mean if its beneficiaries are confined to a public sector that is shrinking increasingly and tend to become an empty shell? Tokenism is never the correct recipe for social engineering. Naturally, the corporate sector needs time to adjust. But the big firms could start new schools for training the Dalits they may have to hire tomorrow. Those who have a vision for the country and who realise that, in the final analysis, it is in their own interest too, will have no problem with such bold step forward— otherwise, once again, the whole process may well derail.

However, three caveats remain unaddressed. First, what of merit and competence? The same criteria cannot be applied here to lower classes as the middle class. The very fact that they are able to overcome their inhibitions to apply to an elite institution is itself meritorious. More importantly, the few who benefit from reservations have had to compete with caste fellows. As far as skill is concerned, beneficiaries of reservations must be assisted in entering elite institutions and must, if necessary, receive additional coaching. But eventually they must gain the same qualifications as others. That reservations expand in the realm of education is precisely precisely its greatest strength.

Second, what of the poor brahmins? In India, caste and class never coincide. Some Savarnas face very difficult living conditions whereas some lowly Shudras do very well. But the class criterion has been downplayed till now because of the stigma that affects lower castes, which no amount of affluence can compensate. In contrast, a poor brahmin has both, the prestige and the work ethic. This is why in 1992 the Supreme Court invalidated Rao’s Office Memorandum, that amended Mandal by reserving 10 per cent of the posts in the government services to ‘economically backward sections of the people’ —the poor from the upper castes would have benefited from this provision.

The judges considered that economic criteria could not be used in the definition of ’backwardness’ under Article 15 and 16 of the Constitution. But things are changing quickly with the economic modernisation helping new comers from the lower castes and affecting upper caste poors; so much so that it would make more sense today than 12 years ago to take the economic criteria into account, an argument the Congress can articulate easily.

What of the so-called ‘‘creamy layer’’? The fact that Dalits who belong to rich and educated families continue to benefit from reservations is problematic. It affects the credibility of the whole system by preventing those who really need reservations from getting them. The iminent extension of positive dicrimination in India justifies the need to revisit the rules of the game. Incidentally, the notion of a review of the system was written into the Constitution of 1950, which prescribed that reservations had to be assessed after 10 years. If the 93rd amendment was unanimously passed last year, surely a depassionate debate in Parliament on the issue is possible this year.

Christophe Jaffrelot is the author of India’s Silent Revolution: The rise of the lower castes in North India (Permanent Black, 2003)