(K. V. Kumaran, Advocate, Member, Kerala Public Service Commission, Retd, Trivandrum)
The Mandal Commission Report has rightly been acclaimed as a Magna Carta for the Backward Classes of India. But what has happened to this Report? Is it alive? Or dead? Or put in cold storage?
No doubt, the Report was placed before Parliament in Nov. 1982 and was discussed. There was only the bare minimum quorum in Parliament when this very important document was considered. Was it because our MPs thought that the recommendations of this commission were of very little significance? It was only a preliminary discussion. The State Governments’ remarks have been called for. A majority of our MPs hail from backward communities, and Mandal Commission has strongly recommended caste based reservation in Central Services, as well as public undertakings such as nationalised banks, university affiliated colleges and in all institutions receiving financial aid from govt. And also in promotions! Not content with due representation in services, the Commission has recommended structural changes and constructive measures for educational, economic and social advancement of the OBCs. The Backward Classes Commission has a unique advantage over other commissions. The government is bound to take a decision on the report this way or that. The previsions in Art. 340 are specific. The President shall cause a copy of the Report to be laid before each House of Parliament. Not the Report alone, but also a Memorandum of Action taken by government thereon. But where is this Memorandum of Action? Calling comments from State governments is no doubt, also an action on this Report. Is this what is contemplated under Art 340(3) of the Constitution? If so, this amounts to nothing but flouting the provisions in the Constitution.
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, on Dec. 13, 1980, at the valedictory function of Mandal Commission summarised the nation’s understanding on the special treatment in favour of the Backward Classes. It was on Dec. 31, 1980 that late B. P. Mandal presented the commission’s Report to the President. In the letter that followed, he expressed the people’s fears: “that in case the report of my Commission also meets the same fate as that of Kaka Kalelkar’s Commission, the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the socially and educationally backward class, which constitute a bulk of population, will be dashed to the ground.” The OBCs too have hopes and aspirations. Will these hopes and aspirations be dashed to the ground? This really is now our concern. As pointed out by Mrs. Gandhi some people feel that backwardness referred to in Art 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution should be related to economic criteria and others feel that this should be based on caste. This controversy remains unsettled. As a result the safeguards provided for the Backward Classes in our Constitution in this respect has remained only on paper as far as Central government is concerned. There is no reservation for OBCs in Central government services even today.
The first Backward Classes Commission was appointed in 1953. Nothing came out of it. The Second Commission was appointed in 1978, after 25 years. Till today this Report has not brought out any benefit to the Backward Classes. However, it could find the dim light of our Parliament. Dim light, because it was not with a Memorandum of Action that the Report was placed on the floor of our Parliament. What will happen next? Will the caste criteria recommended by Mandal Commission be accepted? Will the 27% reservation in Central Govt. and allied services recommended by the Commission for the 52% of our people be approved and implemented? The indications are discouraging.
The Scheduled Castes, tribes and OBC’s together constitute 75% of our population. The Brahmins and their allies who oppose caste based reservation form only 25%. Whose wishes will prevail? Not of the majority but of the minority. And that is India and our democracy. The Brahmins and their allies really rule India. The higher ups in the bureaucratic machinery as well as in political leadership are all Brahmins. Their grip is so strong that nothing detrimental to their interests will happen in our country. The recommendations of Mandal Commission are detrimental to their interests. According to them the SC/STs have really polluted the government Service and this could not be prevented because of the ‘mischief’ played by Dr. Ambedkar. But should there be a further pollution by intrusion by OBCs in Central Government Service? This is the real challenge.
The best course adopted by enemies of caste-based reservation is first to create public opinion against Mandal Commission in the name of Backward Classes and Dalits. This they have achieved in Kerala. The serious criticism is that this Commission has categorised the Muslims of Kerala as a forward community! Another allegation is that Commission has recommended for the exclusion of Pulayas from the list of SCs! The Pulayes constitute over half of the SC population in Kerala. As a community the Pulayas were subjected in the past not only to untouchability but also to slavery. They are even today one of the most backward communities among the SCs. Any person making a recommendation for exclusion of Pulayas from SC list can be considered only as foolish, if not lunatic. The propaganda going on is that Mandal Commission has made such a recommendation. The CPI(M) State Secretariat by a resolution went a step further. They were in the forefront to propagate that in consequence of the Mandal Commission recommendation the Pulayas in Kerala will be deprived of all the benefits now being enjoyed by them as SCs. The Muslims in Kerala are very backward educationally as well as socially. The State government has notified Muslim as OBC. One serious allegation is that Mandal Commission has declared Muslims as a forward Community and as a result the Muslims will become ineligible for any of the benefits recommended by the Mandal Commission. Mandal Commission stands discredited in Kerala because of these allegations. The Pulayas and Muslims were the first to shout slogans against Mandal Commission and to demand rejection of the Commission’s recommendation! What a tragedy! But the fact remains that Mandal Commission has not made any recommendation for the exclusion of Pulayas from SC list nor for treating Muslims as a forward community. The propaganda to the contrary was launched by persons and groups interested to discredit this Commission. Without taking pains to study the Report some leaders of Pulayas and Muslims fell into the trap so cleverly laid by the enemies of caste-based reservation.
The Mandal Commission has appended to their Report an OBC list separately for each State. The Commission has also pointed out that one of the documents relied upon by the commission was the OBC list notified by State governmengts. In Kerala, for reasons not yet explained, the State Government while E. M. S. Namboodiripad was the Chief Minister, had notified the Pulayas as OBC retaining this community simultaneously in the SC list. This mistake was rectified by the Kerala government in 1978. So, from 1967 to 1978 Pulayas remained in the State OBC list also. But somehow or other, the Mandal Commission copied the same mistake, but was cautious enough to suggest that the OBC list should be reviewed by the State. The error in the appendix to the Report is, therefore, remediable.
In the case of Muslims this community is seen omitted in the OBC list appended. At the same time ‘Mappila‘ a synonym of Muslim, finds a place in the Mandal Commission’s OBC list. The Kerala government has included Muslims as well as Mappila in the State’s OBC list. According to the Mandal Commission certain castes are known by a number of synonyms which vary from one region to another. In view of this, Commission has recommended that if a similar caste has been listed as Backward then all its synonyms whether mentioned in the State list or not, should be treated as backward. By this explanation given by the Commission and by inclusion of Mappila which is a synonym of Muslim in the OBC list, the omission of Muslim is curable. It is this defect that has been distorted and exaggerated as treating Muslims as a forward community.
Such errors are seen in the OBC lists of other States also appended to the Mandal Commission Report. These errors are curable without any further enquiry or investigation. The Commission was more concerned with the criteria than the list. When caste-based reservation for OBC’s is accepted for recruitment to Central government services there should necessarily be an OBC list acceptable to Government of India. In some States there are caste-based OBC lists. Once caste is accepted as the criterion for backwardness for purpose of representation in Central government Services, the Central government OBC list can only be the same as that of the State government OBC lists as far as these States are concerned. These errors in the Commission’s OBC list are, therefore, curable, especially in view of the Commission’s recommendation that the OBC list should be reviewed by the State. But these curable errors are now given more importance than the advantages obtainable by acceptance of the main recommendation. These mistakes are highlighted as grounds for rejection of the recommendations of the Commission. There is every reason to suspect that these mistakes have been incorporated in the Appendix hoodwinking the Chairman and Members of the Commission with a view to discrediting the Commission so as to bring about the eventual burial of the Report. To some extent the enemies have succeeded.
