Have Reservations in India outlived their purpose now? (An Analysis Report)

Quota System has emerged as a flagship freebee provided by the Politicians, which needs Rethink design of SC and ST reservations and to stop the Reverse Discrimination.

Introduction

Reservation is a provision in the Indian Constitution that authorizes India’s Government to reserve seats or quota for a particular Society section. In India, Reservation is primarily given to 3 specific sections of the Society – Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes – Generally known as ST, SC and OBC’s quota. This is widely used to apply relaxation or lower the qualification needed for Jobs and Examinations on all levels. Reservation is such a powerful tool for a particular section of Society that secures a selected number of Parliamentary and Legislative assembly seats. Thus, it gives you a way to become the most Powerful Elites of the Country.

History

After Independence, Reservation was given to only STs and SCs, but later, it extended to OBCs after the Mandal Commission report in 1990. In 2019, the Indian Government approved an additionally 10% reservation in government jobs and all govt. Educational institutions for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in the General category. The Council of Ministers decided that this would be separated from the existing – 50% reservation for SC, ST and OBCs categories.

The demand for Reservation found back in Colonial British Era. Even Before that, where Shahu, the Maharaja of princely State – Kohlapur, had introduced Reservation for Non – Brahmin and Backward Section of the Society. Therefore, there have been uneven societies in the world who indeed need Reservation, but how long and how much?

That remains a Big Question.     

Higher Castes seeking Reservation

The Indian Society sees a new uproar amongst the High Castes for seeking Reservation these days. It further strengthens the “Reverse Reservation” need in Society. Hence, the Indian Polity who felt the reservation need for a backward section of Society gets the same voice from its forward sections. And, that ultimately prepares a ground to play “Politics”. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao recently said the State government has decided to implement 10 per cent reservations for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the State. He added that with the 10 per cent reservation for EWS and the existing 50 per cent reservation implemented for other weaker sections, the total reservations would go up to 60 per cent. Adding to the same, Reservation is yet to take an entry into the Private sector. Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar announced 75 per cent quotas in private jobs for locals last year. And now, Jharkhand set to reserve 75% jobs in the private sector for locals; CM Hemant Soren will secure 75 per cent jobs in the private sector for the people of the Jharkhand state.  Mr Soren announced that his Government would soon formulate a new domicile policy, reserving jobs for locals in the private sector.

The Nation Founding Fathers envisaged quotas constitutionally as a temporary measure; they envisaged SC and ST reservations as a temporary solution to mainly provide social justice to marginalized populations. The core reason for Reservation was social justice before the economic upliftment. And, the reservation policy was initially intended to last just 10 years of period. Still, the governments kept extending it and expanded the definition of backward classes and their criterion for political reasons.

Today, half of the Indian Population is in the reservation pool, contributing to the ongoing fierce race to be recognized as more socially backward. Initially, hundreds of castes were entitled to Reservation’s benefits, which has now gone up to more than a thousand since Independence. And notably, no caste group has ever been delisted from the backward category. Therefore, there’s an immense need to revisit and revamp the whole scheme objectively.

Reservation objectives and current trends

Pre or Post Independence: there’s been a heated debate over who deserves quota is the question: what is the objective of Reservation?

Fighting economic backwardness was never the central – original promise of Reservation. “The premise for reservation has changed over the years,” says Satish Deshpande who teaches sociology at the Delhi School of Economics.

Satish Deshpande says when the Poona Pact (reserving seats for depressed classes in provincial legislatures) between Mahatma Gandhi and BR Ambedkar was signed before Independence in 1932, the promise was that exclusion would end. Post-Constituent Assembly discussion and debates resulted in the Constitution, and the target got shifted to backwardness and inequality later.

“We have forgotten the distinction between exclusion and inequality. And inequality is politically a much more acceptable idiom,” Deshpande says. Although quotas have brought opportunities to backward castes and Dalits, they have limited their social mobility. It has also helped create layers of economically and socially mobile groups within communities leading to intra-group differences. Deshpande points out that Reservation is necessary, but it cannot be a panacea. “It cannot be an answer to different questions — of backwardness, inequality, poverty and exclusion.”

India has witnessed how Patidar (A privileged Gujrati community) had a mammoth movement for seeking Reservation. And in 2015, In Bihar state elections where caste plays a dominant role — forced prime minister Narendra Modi to assure that quotas were here to stay. Thus, it shows a fear amongst leaders to lose the vote bank. Leaders refrain themselves discussing the current reservation system.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat weighed in the debate saying that it was time to review the reservation policy, triggering speculation that the ruling party and its ideological parent were not on the same page on the issue.

A paper was presented at a symposium organized by a group in 2015. The group was associated with the RSS argued that reservation benefits should be changed from caste to household, irrespective of caste and community. The presenter, Durganand Jha, a member of the RSS, argued for a household ranking system based on their social, regional, income, and education status. Jha argues that caste is no more an accurate indicator of poverty backwardness.

Initially, the Reservation was intended only for SC/ST communities – that too for 10 years (1951-1961). However, it got extended ever since. After implementing the Mandal Commission report in 1990, the Reservation scope was widened to include Other Backward Communities (OBCs).

The Reservation benefits were successively enjoyed only by a few communities (or families), excluding the genuinely deserving ones. Even 70 years after Independence, the demand for Reservation has only increased.

Now, with the introduction of economic criteria for Reservation, in addition to the caste-criteria which already existed, things have become more complicated.

The SCs, STs and OBCs Group Reviews

People from Backward classes stress on the continuation of Reservation and argue over the same. Many people term reservations as a consolation for facing discrimination some decades ago. But it’s not. Communities that belongs to SC & ST faced discrimination and abuse for many decades. They were denied quality education and healthcare. Most of them were low at the time of Independence. At that time, not all schools were willing to teach these communities, and not all employees were ready to hire them for jobs. And as a result, poverty in the communities would have continued for many more generations. But reservations provided positive discrimination for them and uplifted many people.

Now, there are rich, and middle class in these communities and that is because of reservations. If we observe the statistics of below poverty line people, many of them belong to SC & ST. And a high percentage of wealthy and middle classes belong to OBC & Other Castes (OC). Still, people of some communities are facing abuse in the name of caste.

One case study revealed that some communities find it challenging to get a home for rent, and a temporary job if they revealed their caste names. These things justify caste-based Reservation because people belonging to Other Castes do not have to go through all this to move to a new city, get an education, and get a job. But do these stereotypes succeed today? Are they Socially backward, or they are subjected to Social injustice these days?

Though this reason has lost its essence in the modern era, and the castes that should be benefitted are not being helped, the others are reaping the benefits of the reservation system that is not meant for it. Today, the reservation system has just become a tool for politicians to gain vote banks.

Anti – Reservation resentment and Uttar Pradesh

Congress sunk from the heights of its dominance into a state of irrelevance. While political mobilization in Uttar Pradesh saw intense social polarisation in the 1990s, it did not result in an alternative social coalition capturing political Power like its neighbour Bihar. Uttar Pradesh developed its specific party system with four established players – Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, besides a few minor parties.

Uttar Pradesh has encountered the Reservation Politics heights where BSP made inroads Power based on purely SCs and STs Caste Politics. Ex. Uttar Pradesh CM Smt. Mayawati enjoyed a full-fledged power in the State for over a decade. Similarly, Mulayam Singh Yadav led Samajwadi Party enjoyed the same Caste Politics rule over (Yadav – Muslims) caste equations.

Now, Bharatiya Janata Party Rule is quite different from the Castes Politics. Most of the BJP Elite belongs to the Upper Caste Segment with Brahmins and Baniya with the Current Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Singh Bisht aka Yogi Adithyanath (A Brahmin). The Current regime of Uttar Pradesh Government is seen opposite to Caste Based Regimes in the past decades. Hence, one way or other, the Current BJP Government regime attracts an anti-reservation resentment group or a class of people. Though there has not been much visible actions/activities in the public domain so far, there is undoubtedly a sense of support or emotions.

Meritocracy, Education and Rule of Law

Currently, we have a provision of up to 49.5 per cent reservation (22.5 per cent for STs and SCs and 27 per cent for OBCs) as per the Mandal Commission report. An additional 10% quota is reserved for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in the General category. It means, around 60% of Indian Administration Jobs and Educational Institutions are filled up with these particular sections of Society. Only rest 40% of seats are vacant for all the leftover majoritarian Population under the general category.

Thus, a few crores people have relaxation and privilege to Government Jobs and Subsidized or Free Govt. Education whereas all rest of Indian is left over on their own?

Here is an immense need to come up with some constructive plan to tackle this challenge. The people of India and the Government have to come together to implement these reforms before it’s too late.

There can be a few options taken into consideration to avoid this misbalance.

– Reservation should remain for the underprivileged sections of the Society, but it must be regulated now. The Government can make Reservation conditional. For instance – One or Max. Two Person per Family can avail Reservation. It would fulfil their needs and at the same time would balance the other side as well.

– The Government should also track the reserved member family’s socio-economic level and continue with the check and monitoring to the next generation.

– If the Government determines a per capita income for the reserved family and track on the same parameters, it would be easier for the Government to consider revoking reservation status for the family who enjoys higher per capita income because they do not need the Reservation anymore if they become the wealthy class.

There’s an immense need of Rule of Law which does not discriminate with any class or group. The Centralized Rule of Law can be a panacea to eradicate all such divisions, sense or need to have a reservation or quota system. Reservation in state services led to divisions and enmity among government employees, vitiating the workplace atmosphere. Significantly, Reservations are the biggest enemy of a meritocracy, which is the foundation of many progressive countries.

– Instead of introducing reservations for these backward classes, what is required is to bring about revolutionary changes in our education system at the grass-root level. From the very beginning, it provides equal opportunities to everyone, and Indian Society does not require any quota or reservation system.