In ‘Reservation Policy in India,’ Narender Kumar and Sudhir Kumar Suthar unpack the opposition to caste-based quota, challenge myths of meritocracy, and underline an inclusive approach to affirmative action
In 1960, when US President John F. Kennedy used the term ‘affirmative action’, India’s reservation policy had already completed more than a decade. But more than seven decades later, the lack of regular and consistent data for a wider period and covering the whole country remains a major challenge in implementing the reservation policy.
Although caste is the most important variable in policy on affirmative action, the last caste census to enumerate the population of different caste groups in India and their development indicators took place way back in 1931. The government also never made public a socioeconomic and caste census of 2011 with multiple indicators of measuring backwardness. The argument was that it was marred by anomalies while the classification of backward classes was problematic.
Defending middle class aspirations
But the lack of data or substantive information is only one of the major drawbacks the reservation policy needs to surmount. The bigger challenge is the multiple roadblocks because of deep-rooted objections thrown up by the upper castes and their thinking which, over the centuries, has gained firm roots. This continues to this day, in various forms, even if there is more or less a near universal acceptance for reservations in the field of legislatures.
The implementation of the Mandal Commission Report, while a major turning point in the reservation policy domain, brought about the most negative and noisy reactions from the entrenched classes. The opposition voices sought to reason that reservation in itself was a problem and hence its continuation was a greater problem. And over time, the so-called logic of efficiency and merit have injected a new vocabulary into public discourse, as if these traits are the exclusive privilege of a chosen few. The constant argument of merit has come at the cost of larger questions of social justice.
But as academic-authors Narender Kumar and Sudhir Kumar Suthar (both from the Jawaharlal Nehru University) point out in Reservation Policy in India: State, Social Justice, and Affirmative Action (Orient BlackSwan), a slim but authoritative treatise, anti-reservation attitudes are more about defending middle class aspirations than about questions of quality or merit or any social reform. This is why the private sector is not free of caste-based discrimination and bias. And this is also why even the state-run public sector, too, is not very eager to fill up spaces meant for the depressed sections.
50 percent cap restricts the policy’s scope
If all this was not enough, the recurring debate over reservation has tended to shift, with the economic criteria becoming a defining logic in itself. This is how reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) came about. This got the stamp of approval from the Supreme Court (despite a dissenting note from two judges). This despite the fact that the Constitution makers saw social prejudice and discrimination, and not economic status, as markers of backwardness. It is no surprise then that the upper castes have come to monopolise EWS reservations. Also, some upper castes which were in the forefront of opposing the Mandal recommendations are now demanding, in some parts of India, that they be counted as Scheduled Tribes (STs) to benefit from job quotas!
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Coming to the mass of genuine beneficiaries, the authors insist that the existing cap of 50 percent on reservations restricts the scope of the policy — and must go. And for the important question as to how long the reservations must continue, Kumar and Suthar come up with an answer that, according to them, is not complicated: Forever. “The question of equitable representation can scarcely become irrelevant in a democratic state.”
The fact is that despite the flaws in implementation and caste-based opposition, the reservation policy has not only achieved employment opportunities for the marginalised but also paved the way for mobilisation, collective assertion and identity creation among marginalised communities. This is why the RSS and the BJP, despite their known antipathy to reservations, do not oppose them openly; the latter cannot afford to do so because of electoral considerations.
Examining reservation policy, its enforcement
The authors want reservation to be extended to the private sector, too. They also call for special drives to ensure that marginalised groups are given priority in the implementation of various policies. Realising the various bottlenecks, they call for a national-level committee to examine the status of the reservation policy and its enforcement. A white paper, Kumar and Suthar reason, must be submitted to Parliament to understand the issues associated with a wider implementation of the policy of reservations.
Yet, the fact is that there is deeply entrenched, even if weakening, opposition to reservations. The upper class and corporate argument one often hears is that quotas cannot be a permanent feature, and that while the State must provide educational opportunities to all, only ‘merit’ should be the criteria when it comes to jobs and advancement in work places. This is why institutions like the IITs, IIMs and engineering colleges, besides specialised and medical professions, object to quotas.
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The dominant classes refuse to admit, even in drawing room discussions, that the government needs to play a proactive role to help communities which for centuries remained on the margins because of caste divisions plaguing the Hindu society. And the truth is even those so-called low-caste Hindus who have embraced Islam or Christianity still suffer from caste bias in their new religions.
Quotas as a stigma
In the book, the authors quote the findings of a disturbing study which says that when job applications are scrutinised, college-educated lower-caste and Muslim applicants fare less well than the equivalently-qualified applicants with high-caste names.
Finally, those from the Schedules Castes or Scheduled Tribes who do get into educational institutions or work places, thanks to the reservation policy, face discrimination. Quotas are seen as a stigma. A section of upper caste students shows their frustrations by targeting students from weaker sections. While the work of the National Commission for SCs and STs is widely seen as praiseworthy, not every other institution with similar mandate has risen to the occasion.
A reading of Reservation Policy in India gives enough indications that the battle for ensuring justice to the deprived classes through reservations is going to be long-drawn.
