Should India continue with Caste based reservation?

Caste based differentiation of people in India remains an enigma and a tricky topic to deal with socio-politically. At times I get surprised by the simplistic view some of the westerners have about the evil of caste system in India. I understand their situation. It needs first-hand experience of living and growing in the Indian society intimately and mere fancy spiritual and adventurous sojourns do not offer the right insight into this complex social system of India.

A quick recap of the caste system:

Among the loosely coupled group of people in the south east Asia, who call themselves Hindus; the society is believed to be divided into 4 class of people or the 4 castes: The Brahmins, or the ones who derive their livelihood by rituals, worships, priesthood etc. acting as a channel of communication between human and divine; the Kshatriyas or the ruler and the warrior class; the Vysyas or business community and lastly, the shudras or the lowest rung of people meant for doing the menial jobs.

Though it is seen as a parallel to apartheid, the basis was different. People were categorized based on their profession rather than colour or creed. They had flexibility to change their caste by switching the profession; however, over the time the practice became degenerated, oppressive and disgusting. The lower caste people in India were oppressed for generations. They had little opportunity to excel and were out rightly downtrodden. They were considered untouchable; did not have access to temples, place of worship, public amenities and education.

Provisions for quota or Reservation System:

When India got independence and its constitution was written, many progressive leaders felt the need for upliftment and inclusiveness of this section of the society. It was felt necessary to make provisions for rapid progression of this society. It was agreed that this was a temporary measure and the need for reservation should be reviewed periodically and should be abolished in a period.

This led to the reservation system in India. Though it differs from state to state; roughly the reservations as they stand are:

Scheduled caste               = 15%
Scheduled Tribe               = 7.5%
Other Backward Caste     = 27% (This was added later on recommendations of Mandal Commission)

Apart from these broad categories which account for nearly 50% of the seats; there are some more provisions for Defense personnel and their dependents, women, minority communities like Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and now Jains. These quotas apply to all the educational institutions, government jobs, promotions in jobs and there are electoral seats reserved for people from reserved category to ensure representation in the parliament. From a reserved seat, only people from reserved category can contest elections. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribe people are also protected by very strict legislation against exploitation.

Though started for a noble cause; the Reservation system soon became a tool for the corrupt Populist politics in India. It has become clear now that the maximum benefit of reservation system is being reaped by the rich and affluent people of the reserved category. The poor people under reserved category are still not able to get suitably benefitted by the reservation provisions as those are consumed by more resourceful rich people under reserved categories. Reservation in technical higher education and promotion in jobs raises a serious question on negligence of merit in the field of technology, life sciences, research, governance and policy making. A very large number of people below poverty line also belong to the so called upper class castes. They remain deprived of these provisions of reservation for the weaker section of the society. This also creates lots of frustration and rebellion in the heart and mind of underprivileged upper caste poor people. The hatred and the chasm between castes remain wide open.

Arguments given in favour of continuing with the current provisions of caste based reservations:

Most of the political leaders from backward classes vehemently support the caste based reservations and are equivocal on when these provisions should be resolved or if they should be resolved at all.

Ram Vilas Paswan, president of Lok Janshakti Party who used to hold records in Guinness Book of World records for winning Parliamentary elections with largest vote margins is of the opinion that caste based discrimination prevailed in India for thousands of years so the caste based reservation should remain for a very,  very long time. The solution as per him is that all the boys and girls from upper caste should willingly marry the girls and boys from lower caste. This way, the social stigma of caste will be abolished and everyone will get similar benefits.

Mayawati, head of Bahujan samaj party and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has based her carrier on the dalit or oppressed card. She wants to be seen and remembered as the epitome of dalit empowerment. To prove a point, she loves to splurge the government money on commissioning hundreds of statues of her own self, public parks and gardens dedicated to herself; all carved out of tax payers’ money. She accepts donations and buys palatial houses for herself costing billions, likes to be weighed in gold at public ceremonies. During her regime, she built a road from her residence to the CM office which would be shut for public. The road used to be dusted and sprinkled with water before her trip to the CM office and the road would be hurriedly closed after her caravan of vehicles would have passed. She would move around with Z+ level of personal security with scores of commandoes; had half a dozen food tasters who would consume the food prepared for her before she would take the plunge. Her take on caste based reservation is not very clear. Lately she seems to agree in principle to consider the poor people from upper castes as well to be considered for the reservation benefits. The details are not clear.

Lalu Prasad, supremo of RJD has been a champion of Mandal Commission implementation and had been a hard player of caste based politics.

Congress Party has been speaking about this for some time and now the rhetoric is getting louder that they want to implement the caste based reservation to the private sector jobs as well. This step looks inspired by populist politics more than any larger ideology. Congress Party seems to be out of game in these upcoming national elections and they are struggling to make a last moment impact.

I am not very aware of what AAPs vision on caste based reservations is. Probably they are yet to include this on their election agenda.

What I make out:

“Moving on” is the need of the hour. Indian politicians and people of some communities should stop lobbying for things for personal advantage and should not differentiate between the needy people. We are a country of limited resources and unlimited asks; let us spare a thought for all the needy people irrespective of the castes and help them come out of it and participate in the all-inclusive growth of the nation. Seeing the political situation in the country; looks highly improbable in the near future.