Why Caste Based Reservation?

 

Why Caste Based Reservation?

 “Caste based reservation system”, it is one of the most controversial and discussed topic in India, so here we are going to talk about it again but hopefully in a much better way.

Article 15(1) of Indian constitution states that, "The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, and place of birth or any of them". The main concern of people against Reservations is that it violates the principle of equal rights to every citizen. But as per the Article 16(4):"Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State." As India has always been a society that was based on inequalities becoming rigid over the years, so it was necessary for the makers of Indian constitution to address those inequalities. And hence Article 16(4) was added to the constitution. But since a very long time there have been many discussions to abolish caste based reservation or to make some changes.

But before starting any further discussions about pros and cons of reservation system, let us first understand the impact of this reservation system.

               

Now if we look at the above two pie charts, we can clearly see that we are going to talk about at most 4% of the total employment of our country. Yes, this is only where the reservation exists. So, it is up to you to decide whether this discussion matters that much to you now also or not.

Now we can start our discussion about whether Caste based reservation is justified or not.

Ø CASTE BASED DISCRIMINATION

“Kaun jaat ho?” (Which caste do you belong to?)It is one of those questions that we can easily hear everytime we are travelling in a bus or a train and also in our localities as well. As I remember a story from my childhood, when I was at my village my grandmother asked me to shift aside or else I would touch the woman who came to collect waste and garbage from every household in the locality and she was offered roti and sabzi in return and sometimes some money as well. Then I got to know that she belonged to a lower caste, this was maybe the first time I came to know about caste and now after so many years, now that woman has grown old and her daughter comes to collect garbage and in return she was also given some food and money. I still wonder why they are still doing that same stuff, still everyone fears getting touched by them. If this isn’t caste discrimination, which seems to be a practice of past to many, then what else is. The lower caste have a long history of being discriminated just because of the caste they were born in, for instance, If a Brahmin committed adultery or rape, merely a fine was imposed on him (Manu Smrti VIII.385). However if a Shudra had sexual intercourse with a Brahmin woman, he was to be executed no matter whether the act was consensual or not (Vasishtha Dharma Shastra 21.1). If a Brahmin reviled a Shudra, he paid a small fine (Manu Smrti VIII. 268) or nothing at all (Gautama Dharma Sutra XII.10). But in the reverse case, a Shudra’s tongue was to be chopped off (Manu Smrti VIII. 270).

In the State of Maharashtra, lower caste houses cannot be located to the West of any village since the Westerly breeze passing through them to the main village would be polluting. This is not from the 18th century but the present day. We people living in the urban cities who claim themselves to have developed a lot like to believe that this is an outdated concept but, sadly, it is not. Even today lower caste women are raped with impunity. Even today lower caste people are not allowed to access water points meant for the upper caste (many people still get lynched every year on this issue). Even today lower caste people are denied entry into many temples. Even today girls who marry lower caste boys get killed by their families who want to maintain / redeem their lost ‘honor’.

Ø RESERVATION: A CHALLENGE TO EQUALITY?

“Equality does not mean same treatment”.  A historically and socially disadvantaged group needs to be given special opportunities to ensure equal share of opportunities. Whenever we talk about equal opportunities, it is not always formal equality but substantial equality.

Whenever we see comparatively low cutoffs and easy to score marks for the reserved categories to clear an exam or to get into some job, we often don’t see the whole of challenges experienced by them generations over generation. What we are looking at is just the finishing line, which we feel is closer for the reserved category students. But what we don’t see is the starting point of the race, have they started from the same point where we did. We talk about merit and competition, but is there any competition that exists for real. A group of people who had been declined even basic human rights for years, who were not even given the right to study, who were given no right over land and resources, are now expected to compete equally with us. Is that what we mean by an equal and fair competition?

Ø RESERVATION ENSURES REPRESENTATION

Article 16(4) renders it clear that reservation was enacted to ensure adequate representation of backward classes in the public services. Sharing of state power by the downtrodden was necessary because at the time of independence, the administration had been controlled by one community or a few communities only, as Ambedkar pointed out before the constituent assembly. As the condition was so deplorable, the people of upper class would not have allowed the socially deprived class people to join public services. Hence, there was a need of ensuring a proper representation of all groups and for this reservation was introduced on the basis of population of the SCs and STs.

From the above graph we can see that the respective population of UC, OBCs, SCs and STs is nearly 30%, 41%, 20% and 9% (And there has been a significant increase in the population of OBCs as more and more caste groups are added to OBC category).  Currently the reservation provided to these categories in Central services and educational institutes is OBC- 27%, SC- 15% and ST- 7.5%.

Still we can see a lack of fair representation of socially marginalized groups in the services where reservation does not exist. Representation is a core principle of democracy and the latter has no meaning without the former. However, a fair representation is still not possible for the underprivileged and deprived sections of society due to the existing caste discriminations, Brahmanical attitudes and prejudices. It is also imperative to note that representation alone is not enough to democratize the social spaces. The representation will not fulfill the purpose if there is no recognition. Both recognition and representation are complimentary to each other. Recognition is a matter of attitudinal change and transition of morality from social to constitutional and can be achieved when people adopts democracy as a way of life.

Ø RESERVATION ON ECONOMIC BASIS

Many a times people argue that reservation should be given on the basis of economic status of a person and not merely on the basis of caste. And yes it seems to be a good option as well.

Even the makers of our Constitution would have thought about it, but their major concern was that even if the candidates of the scheduled castes would apply for certain Government posts, they would not be selected for the posts because the people who select the candidates do not belong to that community or that section. Thus, it was not economic poverty but caste that accounted for their deprivation of government jobs. In such a situation, reservation was the only option to ensure entry and adequate representation of the candidates of SCs and STs in the state apparatus. In no case was reservation seen as a device to eradicate poverty, nor was it demanded in favour of the economically poor. It was brought in because without reserving a certain number of posts, the selection bodies which were monopolised by the so-called upper castes, would not recruit Dalits due to their ingrained class-bias.

Still if we have a look at the poverty graph most of the people living below poverty line belong to the lower caste. And even if we compare population belonging to economically same level on the basis of caste (look at the graph given below) we can clearly see a big gap between Upper Caste and Lower Caste group.

So, the caste based reservation cannot be mixed with the economic reservation. So, replacing caste based reservation with economic reservation won’t be a wiser choice. But it does not necessarily mean that there should be no provision for the reservation on economic basis. And the government has also included 10% EWS quota for the economically backward section. It can also help in the eradication of poverty, and upliftment of society as a whole.

 

Ø CHALLENGES TO THE CURRENT RESERVATION SYSTEM

By now, there are affluent and socially and economically advanced classes within Scheduled Classes and Scheduled Tribes. There is voice by deprived persons of social upliftment of some of the SCs and STs, but they still do not permit benefits to trickle down to the needy. Thus, there is a struggle within, as to worthiness for entitlement within reserved classes of SCs and STs and other backward classes.

If we take an example, there is a Meena community that is majorily found in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and few parts of Uttar Pradesh. Meena community is a Kshatriya tribe, who claims to have ruled parts of Rajasthan, and even there was 42^nd Deoli regiment of British Army that raised Meena Battalion from the northern parts of India.

Meenas are provided ST category reservation but now the same group seems to be economically much well off and in almost every government service and top class institutions we can see a very good proportion of people belonging to this community. I’ll give you an example of how a few well off groups don’t allow much deprived sections to get the benefit of reservations. In UPSC Civil Service Examinations 2019, 67 seats were reserved for ST category and out of these 67 seats candidates with Meena surname grabbed 23 seats that accounts for more than 1/3 of seats reserved for ST category. It makes it impossible for the other tribes belonging to North East and other regions to find a fair proportion in these elite services.

This is the major drawback of the reservation system, as it completely goes against the basic principle of fair representation. There should be measures to overcome these challenges, like more subcastes and subgroups can be introduced under SC ST category to ensure that the benefit of reservation reaches every section of society.

There should also be a revision of castes included in reserved categories that if they now need any more reservation or not. Or just like in OBC category a concept of creamy and non-creamy layer can be included in SC and ST categories.

There can also be made provisions to discontinue the benefit of reservation after a particular number of generations to be passed onto next generation. Like if my Father and I have used reservation to represent ourselves and get a respectable position in society then my children should not be allowed to use the benefit of reservations.

Ø CONCLUSION

So now as we have already discussed reservation so deeply, we can ourselves make out what’s wrong, what’s good and what can be changed. What those belonging to unreserved category need to do is have a look at the broader picture instead of just feeling low or jealous if someone gets something better than them even after performing less. Society can be taken forward together only. And always remember that Reservation is not about snatching opportunities from you but it is about giving special opportunities to the others. Our aim should be to make a Casteless society, where your surname doesn’t define you. Because caste came first, then reservations. 

And those belonging to reserved category should also think of getting rid of the reservations and should do the best they can do themselves and make sure their children don’t have to rely on reservations only, provide them good education and a respectful life. Always remember Reservation was meant to be a basis of upliftment and you should make sure that in coming years you don’t need any outside upliftment.

CREDITS:
Graph, Charts and Data taken from Youtube (Yogendra Yadav TEDx Talks; https://youtu.be/exEfbf-IKZI)
Few Excerpts taken from Scroll.in (https://scroll.in/article/976824/caste-violence-india-must-disown-parts-of-ancient-texts-that-contradict-the-constitution)