With parties across political spectrum rushing to legitimize the reservation demands of different caste groups in the hope of cultivating vote banks, they have kicked off a race to the bottom. As a result, even influential communities have been demanding a share of reservations pie. This is precisely what the recent Hardik Patel-led Patidar agitation in Gujarat represents. Besides touching off caste conflicts, the fallout of this greater reservation game has been slowly leading to strangulation of meritocracy. This, in turn, has disastrous consequences on administration.
Coming so close to Bihar election, Bhagwat’s statement evoked sharp reaction from political parties. Worried about the fallout of his statement on the coming poll, the BJP distanced itself from the RSS Chief’s call for an overhaul of the reservation policy. After all, in poll-bound Bihar, backward classes and scheduled castes constitute 65% of the population and enjoy benefits of reservation. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stressed that the BJP firmly believed reservation was important for social, education and economic development of these groups. The BJP was not in favour of any reconsideration of these constitutional provisions.
Shiv Sena and VHP, however, backed Bhagwat, saying it welcomed RSS chief’s call for a review of reservation. VHP asked the Centre to set up a judicial commission to find out if the beneficiary castes needed it any more. Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitin Ram Manjhi, who is a Mahadalit face of the state’s Dalit politics and an ally of the BJP, said he is in favour of a review of the policy. “Bhagwat is suggesting a review of the reservation policy and not stopping it”.
Rubbishing BJP’s claim of distancing itself from Bhagwat’s statement, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad said this was done to “contain the damage” in Bihar polls. The Congress said the reservation issue has been settled as mandated by the Constitution.
From way back in 1902, when it first formally started in Kolhapur, reservation in some form or other has existed in India. The founding fathers institutionalized it as part of the Constitution, enabling reservation of 15% for Scheduled Castes and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes in government services and educational institutions.
Later, as per recommendations of the Mandal Commission, 27% reservation was extended to people from Other Backward Castes (OBC). In the post-Mandal era, voices of resentment against reservation, especially based on caste, have steadily increased. The India Against Reservation movement in 2006 was one of the seminal points in the entire debate, where it was almost like a clash of the civilization; doctors from AIIMS, budding engineers from IITs were up in arms against the extension of reservation policies for OBCs in educational institutions.
Caste-based reservation seeks to amend the centuries of injustice done to those castes who were termed as lower than the rest and forced to lead a life of ignominy. The societal fault-lines are considerably mellow now, but they still exist. From reports of dalits not being allowed in temples, being shunned from drinking water from tube wells or violence against them, the evil shadow of caste is still a reality, especially in rural India. Yet, the argument against caste-based reservation has been that benefactors are often those perched at the top of the societal order and those who actually need help still end up losing out. This has given rise to a debate for providing reservations on the basis of economic considerations.
The need of the hour is not just to re-imagine the reservation policy but also create a new paradigm of social justice. One of the reasons for the reservation rush is the lack of adequate job opportunities elsewhere which makes government postings extremely lucrative and highly prized. This clearly is not sustainable. Boosting job creation in the formal sector, and not just economic growth, will enlarge the pie for all communities. Economic reforms along with sufficient investments in quality school education will create a level-playing field, mitigate the need for quotas. It’s time to enact policies that lifts all boats. (IPA Service)
India
BHAGWAT’S REMARKS RATTLE BJP LEADERSHIP
NITISH GETS ADVANTAGE BEFORE ELECTIONS
Harihar Swarup - 2015-09-26 16:12
For once RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat was right when he suggested that a non-political committee should be constituted to examine and determine which categories require reservation benefits and how long. Significantly, he chose to make the statement against the backdrop of the Patel agitation in Gujarat, demanding a relook at the reservation policy. Why so much of hullabaloo about his statement? Few can argue against Bhagwat’s assertion that reservations have been politicized and are not being implemented in the spirit of their original intention. Earlier, young Congress leader, Jitin Prasada too had asked his party to have a relook at the reservation policy. He had urged the party to evolve a new mechanism for social justice that focused on most backward castes and poor among upper castes. This is an explicit admission that quotas have come to be cornered by a few powerful OBC castes that dominate the administrative machinery.