WHY CASTE-BASED RESERVATIONS?

The issue of reservation to the backward classes is perhaps the most burning question of the day. The pros and cons of the problem are discussed here. In the caste-ridden society of India majority of the people had been denied education for more than 2.000 years. The backwards like Mukkulathor Vanniar. Yadhava, Sengunthar. Ezhava. Kuruba, Devanga. Kashyap, Koiri, Kurmi. Golla. Tell who are mostly cultivators, gardeners and labourers: Vishvakarmas who are creators of designs and makers of enviable ornaments potters, barbers, weavers, washermen and other numerous castes and the Untouchables had been subjected to social oppression and denied education. These sections constitute 85% of the population and majority of them still remain illiterate. Illiterates cannot provide higher education to their children. Their children cannot, at present, compete equally with Brahmin and upper castes children. There cannot be competition between unequals. Test between unequals will lead only to injustice. Reservation to BCs cannot mean denial of opportunity to others. Equality does not connote absolute equality. (1) The sudras were denied education because of Varnashrama Dharma. Even at present 75 to 85% of them remain illiterate. The condition of the Untouchables is still worse. So these sections require reservation in education for a long time. (2) Caste is the direct echo of Varanashrama or caste system which has not, been abolished in the Hindu Law and it is given protection in the Constitution. Neither the upper caste nor the backward caste members have forsaken sub-caste at the time of contracting marriage. Even among Christians. Buddhists & Sikhs taste is being practiced. Among Indian Muslims also It has its impact in some other shape. Thus caste is a reality in India. (3) Caste- based reservation is like tariff in a developing economy. To prevent competition of highly efficient industrial countries, we levy tariff on foreign goods and save our own nascent industries. Likewise the backwards require to be protected by special concessions like reservations, scholarship and relaxation in marks and age. (4) The Backward Classes had remained manual labourers and they had been put at a disadvantageous position all along. The injustice heaped upon them is to be removed at least at this stage. Hence caste-based reservations. There may be poor in every Hindu caste and among Muslims, Sikhs. Christians and Buddhists. But it is a genuine fact that no upper caste member is illiterate because of his/ her poverty. Because of social respect. landed wealth and nearness to rulers al- most all the upper castes have acquired good education for a long time. They are educationally advanced. Their family circumstances have helped their wards to acquire merit and efficiency. At the same time the children of cultivators, artisans. weavers and landless labourers had never tasted such good things in life. They are yet to gain education and thereby good-grounding. They cannot, at present, compete with upper-caste children. Even today land-owners, master-weavers, jewel makers belonging to backward classes are illiterate not because of poverty but be- cause of their long continued deprivation. Is is good to remember that Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister, decried the move for introducing the term. “economically” also along with. “socially and educationalty”, while he moved an amendment to Article 15 of the Constitution in Parliament on 29-5-1951. Sarder Hukam Singh and Dr. S. P. Mookerjee moved an amendment for inclusion of the term “economically” to define “backward classes of citizens”. When put to vote, on the stout plea of Nehru, their amendment was defeated by 243 members voting against it and only 5 members in favour of it, on 1-6-1951. (Parliamentary Debates. Volumes XII and XIII-1951 May & June). Fixing economic criterion will definitely help the socially and educationally advanced castes and sections to knock still another big share in the garb of poverty and thus leave the backward classes in doldrums. Because of the efforts of the South Indian Liberal Federation and be- cause of the five-decade-long selfless services of the Self-Respect Movement founded by Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy, the down-trodden in the South have acquired their due share in elective bodies like Parliament, State legislatures & local bodies. But in the North-which has larger States and majority of the Indian electorate, it is not the case. The condition of the back- ward classes in UP, Bihar, MP, Orissa & West Bengal in this sphere is pathetically poor indeed. Of the 40 MPs (1980) from Madhya Pradhesh there are only two from backward classes. Of the 42 (1980) from West Bengal, only two are from the back- ward classes. Of 294 members elected in 1977 to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly more than 160 belong to Brahmin. Baidhaya and Kayastha upper castes (who form about 15% of the population) 58 SC/STs. The Backward Classes and other minorities are about 25 only But the Backward Class Hindus alone constitute about 50%, in the population. This is nothing but negation of democracy. This is simply “Brahminocracy’. Such conditions in the North are the direct result of non-provision of political reservation to backward classes and absence of virulent social change movements and void of dedicated non-political, non-partisan leader- ship in many of the Northern States. in the IA S. there were 3.546 posts on 1-1-1979, out of which more than 2,000 were held by Brahmins who are a microscopic minority of 5% in the population. In Tamil Nadu out of 257 IAS officers on 1-1-1980, 122 were Brahmins: 59 were upper-caste 34 SC/Sis and Backward classes (including Muslims & Christians). Since there is no reservations to Back- ward Classes in All-India Services they had not achieved their due share in the I.A.S., I.P.S., I.F.S., I.E.S., and I.R.S. These highest administrative services are still the citadel of Brahmins. Rajputs. Boomihars. Kayasths. Lingayats. Kammas. Kapus. Mudaliars. Menons and Nairs-who all put together form only one-sixth of the population of 68.38 crores. In the 170 and odd public sector undertakings under the Central Government, the Brahmins and other upper castes rule the roost in all higher cadres. In the Income-tax depart- ment, except menial and part-time jobs. all the ministerial appointments are held by Brahmins and upper castes. In Tamil Nadu region there were 319 gazetted offi- cers in the Income-tax department on 1-1-1979, out of which 171 were Brahmins. The position of representation to the Backward Classes, SC/STs in the higher & the highest judiciary of India is negligible. Union Minister of Law told Parliament during October 1981, that out of 328 Judges of the High Courts in India. 20 belonged to Backward Classes & only 4 to SC/STs. We shudder to think that 15 to 20% of the people of the nation. should have grabbed 304 posts out of 328, while 85% of the population linger with a paltry number of 24. About 18 among the 20 judges from the Backward Classes and all the four from SC are in South India. Because the judiciary is dominated by upper castes, the provisions for reservation in the Constitution have been interpreted slip-shod by the court with the sole motive of saving their own domination. It was the Madras High Court. then dominated by Brahmins, which struck the Communal Rotation Order that was in force there from 1927, as null and void of the Constitution, in 1950. Again it was the Supreme Court, dominated by upper castes, which imported an interpretation to Article 15 (4) and pronounced that reservation should not go beyond. 50% (Balaji vs. State of Mysore AIR 1963 S.C. 649: 1953 Sup (1) S.C.R. 439). No where in Article 15(4) or 16(4) has it been implicitly or explicitly stated that reservation to BCS, SCs & STs should always remain under 50. “Any special provision” and “for the advancement of the socially and educationally backward classes” and “not adequately represented” are the three terms pointing to the quantum. in Article 15(4) and 16(4). With regard to the quantum of reservation it is very much essential to take into account the observations made by Justice Murtuza Fazal All. He observed “Suppose for instance, a State has a large number of B.Cs of citizens which constitutes 80% of the population and the government, in order to give them proper representation. reserves 80%, of the jobs for them. can it be said that it is bad and violates clause 4 of Article 16? The answer must necessarily be in the negative” (State of Kerala versus N. M. Thomas A.I.R. 1976: SC 490) It is just and constitutional that reservation to BCS, SC/STs. must necessarily be 85%, that is in proportion to the numerical strength of ail these sections in the population of the nation. In the light of the clear-cut constitutional provisions and the recent pronouncement of the Supreme Court and with the help of The Kalelkar Commission Report and the Mandal Commission Report and in view of representation from numerous social change organisations and caste-based associations and political parties, it is the impending duty of the Government of India to come forward to implement reservation to Backward Classes without further delay.