05-26-2006, 06:54 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Some reservations about quota
Balbir K. Punj
http://www.asianage.com/
May 25, 2006
Pursuant upon the Union Cabinetâs decision to implement 27% reservation for OBCs in educational institutes, the medical fraternity has threatened to launch a civil disobedience movement. A civil unrest is in the offing. When Rajiv Goswami, the poster boy of the anti-Mandal agitation of 1990, passed away in February 2004, India Inc. took little notice. Indiaâs economy and image have come of age in these 14 years, <b>making the concept of reservation sound antediluvian. In the IT-era, bristling with BPOs, KPOs and biotech industries, the anti-Mandal agitation seemed an anecdote from the Paleolithic era.</b> But suddenly the bogey of reservation is back with a vengeance, in AIIMS, IIMs, IITs, private educational institutes, and corporate India. Hence, I could spot an anti-reservation girl holding up a placard saying, "Arjun Singh wants another Rajiv Goswami."
The Cabinetâs decision on 27% quota is unilateral, rather than unanimous. It rides roughshod over every technical or expert opinion, whether of the Knowledge Commission or of the Delhi University VC, IIT professors or doctors. Apart from disabling the "forward" section of society, it is a convenient way to fool the OBCs with tokenism. Since the government lacks the vision, enterprise and willpower to really uplift the SCs, STs and OBCs, it can always cite a grand total of 50% reservation as a red-herring. What further exposes the perfunctory nature of this Cabinet decision is <b>Arjun Singhâs refusal to reduce fees for OBC students. So its potential beneficiaries will be the creamy section only. </b>
The 93rd amendment to the Indian Constitution, which came into force on January 20, 2006, empowering the government to implement reservations in government or government aided and unaided educational institutions is an "enabling provision." Why is it that implementing the Directive Principles, like education for all, is not a priority, but 93rd amendment is? Article 16(4) of the Indian Constitution enables the state for "reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the state, is not adequately represented in the services under the state." Thus backwardness, as far as reservation is concerned, is a function of representation in power-sharing, bureaucracy, and educational institutes, and not affluence per se.
OBCs need to be uplifted. <b>But how did you arrive at the magic figure that there are 52% OBCs in the country?</b> Not through the Census of India (since 1931 caste figures had not been enumerated), <b>but through a sample survey done by the Mandal Commission which covered only .2% of Indiaâs population. Were the forward castes of India represented in that commission? No. </b>
The medico stir  the anti-reservation agitation by medical students  has held the high moral ground. In 1990, the agitators were calling SCs, STs and OBCs names, attempting self-immolation, destroying public property like buses. <b>But this time the agitating students have shown their determination with remarkable dignity. They are emphasising upon social harmony ("Brahmin ho ya, OBC, sab ek haiâ¦"), observing indefinite hunger-strikes, and undertaking candlelight processions. Irrespective of how the deadlock ends, they have already scored a moral victory.</b>
Can the irony get greater than this? We were told, all through the Congress era, that casteism is the ultimate social evil of Hindu society. It is a blotch on the image of India, and must be done away with. Article 15 of the Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, race, sex, or place of birth. Article 17 abolished "untouchability" and made its practice punishable under law. <b>Unlike in the US, where one bloc of states turned against another bloc with weapons on the question of abolition of slavery by Abraham Lincoln, Articles 15 and 17 were welcomed by one and all in India. </b>
Govind Ballabh Pant, Nehruâs home minister, rejected the Backward Classes Commissionâs (Kaka Kelkar Commission) report in 1953 on the ground that under <b>socialism the issue of development will be addressed for the nation as a whole, and all "social and other distinctions" will disappear.</b> But today, caste, which could have been a personal and private matter if left alone, is being bolstered in public and professional lives by the same party. <b>In the process, it is creating a new untouchability, resurrecting a new division in Hindu society</b>, which militates against the spirit of the Constitution. The government has decided to appoint an implementation committee for OBC reservations. <b>But why is the government reluctant about a stock-taking of how the reservation policy has worked in the last 50 years? Here are the official statistics for seats of SCs, STs lying vacant in educational institutes: 6,000 in Himachal Pradesh; 1,000 in Haryana; 41,543 in Rajasthan; 11,500 in Madhya Pradesh and 12,549 in Tamil Nadu. Perhaps this also means keeping these many "general category" students forcibly uneducated, who are otherwise willing.</b>
The UPA government has dismissed nearly 100 Central government employees, recruited since 1995, in the last six months. These employees had got a job through fake or forged SC/ST certificates. CNN-IBN recently covered the story (Man exposes fake certificate scam, May 16). At around the same time it sent a special investigative team to Amritsar where it could purchase a fake OBC/SC/ST certificate for Rs 1,000 each (Bogus OBC certificates for Rs 1,000, May 15). Documents available with CNN-IBN show that 30% of nearly 30,000 documents examined by the CBI in relation to the "caste certificate scam" are fake or forged. The imposition of OBC quota certainly promises boom time for racketeers.
There can be no two opinions that the marginalised and disadvantageous sections of society must be uplifted. But is reservation the solution to achieve that end or is it a red-herring? This is simply a demand and supply problem. The seats available in institutions are peanuts compared to the number of applicants. In some places the ratio could be 1:1,000. Today competitive examinations have become elimination tests. A further reduction in seats is bound to psychologically jolt the serious aspirants. <b>A misimpression is being created that upper caste Hindus, driven by caste-prejudice, are trying to block off the backward sections of society from rising, and sacrosanct "merit" is being used as a ruse. </b>
It is the government that has laid down a system based on competitive examinations, where candidates on the top end of the merit list are chosen to fill the vacancies. Now, suddenly to make "merit" a dirty word is to argue against the very system of competitive exams laid down by the government. Besides, no seat in an examination is marked "reserved for general category candidates"; the unreserved seats are open to all, including OBCs. There is no prejudice against capable Dalits, as there is no bias in favour of incapable Brahmins.
<b>What strikes me, as a citizen, is the shabby treatment that Arjun Singh and the Congress brass have given the doctors and prospective doctors  the assets for any society.</b> They expect to be treated by the best doctors, where caste, creed and language do not have any role. Being a surgeon, like being a fighter pilot, is not the same as being a professor of sociology or history. You are literally dealing with a life and death issue. Doctors by themselves are a minority in society.
In India, one caste may consider itself as superior to others, but no caste deems itself inferior to others. Every caste is proud of itself, and caste fidelities could act as effective social capital. Castes like Nadar in South India, by collective will and enterprise, have become wealthy, educated and politically influential. But Brahmins in some parts of India have fallen into a morass for lack of constructive networking. <b>The reservation bill is a heavy one that Indian society will have to foot. This can only gladden the jihadis who would like Hindu society to be Balkanised.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Balbir K. Punj
http://www.asianage.com/
May 25, 2006
Pursuant upon the Union Cabinetâs decision to implement 27% reservation for OBCs in educational institutes, the medical fraternity has threatened to launch a civil disobedience movement. A civil unrest is in the offing. When Rajiv Goswami, the poster boy of the anti-Mandal agitation of 1990, passed away in February 2004, India Inc. took little notice. Indiaâs economy and image have come of age in these 14 years, <b>making the concept of reservation sound antediluvian. In the IT-era, bristling with BPOs, KPOs and biotech industries, the anti-Mandal agitation seemed an anecdote from the Paleolithic era.</b> But suddenly the bogey of reservation is back with a vengeance, in AIIMS, IIMs, IITs, private educational institutes, and corporate India. Hence, I could spot an anti-reservation girl holding up a placard saying, "Arjun Singh wants another Rajiv Goswami."
The Cabinetâs decision on 27% quota is unilateral, rather than unanimous. It rides roughshod over every technical or expert opinion, whether of the Knowledge Commission or of the Delhi University VC, IIT professors or doctors. Apart from disabling the "forward" section of society, it is a convenient way to fool the OBCs with tokenism. Since the government lacks the vision, enterprise and willpower to really uplift the SCs, STs and OBCs, it can always cite a grand total of 50% reservation as a red-herring. What further exposes the perfunctory nature of this Cabinet decision is <b>Arjun Singhâs refusal to reduce fees for OBC students. So its potential beneficiaries will be the creamy section only. </b>
The 93rd amendment to the Indian Constitution, which came into force on January 20, 2006, empowering the government to implement reservations in government or government aided and unaided educational institutions is an "enabling provision." Why is it that implementing the Directive Principles, like education for all, is not a priority, but 93rd amendment is? Article 16(4) of the Indian Constitution enables the state for "reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the state, is not adequately represented in the services under the state." Thus backwardness, as far as reservation is concerned, is a function of representation in power-sharing, bureaucracy, and educational institutes, and not affluence per se.
OBCs need to be uplifted. <b>But how did you arrive at the magic figure that there are 52% OBCs in the country?</b> Not through the Census of India (since 1931 caste figures had not been enumerated), <b>but through a sample survey done by the Mandal Commission which covered only .2% of Indiaâs population. Were the forward castes of India represented in that commission? No. </b>
The medico stir  the anti-reservation agitation by medical students  has held the high moral ground. In 1990, the agitators were calling SCs, STs and OBCs names, attempting self-immolation, destroying public property like buses. <b>But this time the agitating students have shown their determination with remarkable dignity. They are emphasising upon social harmony ("Brahmin ho ya, OBC, sab ek haiâ¦"), observing indefinite hunger-strikes, and undertaking candlelight processions. Irrespective of how the deadlock ends, they have already scored a moral victory.</b>
Can the irony get greater than this? We were told, all through the Congress era, that casteism is the ultimate social evil of Hindu society. It is a blotch on the image of India, and must be done away with. Article 15 of the Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, race, sex, or place of birth. Article 17 abolished "untouchability" and made its practice punishable under law. <b>Unlike in the US, where one bloc of states turned against another bloc with weapons on the question of abolition of slavery by Abraham Lincoln, Articles 15 and 17 were welcomed by one and all in India. </b>
Govind Ballabh Pant, Nehruâs home minister, rejected the Backward Classes Commissionâs (Kaka Kelkar Commission) report in 1953 on the ground that under <b>socialism the issue of development will be addressed for the nation as a whole, and all "social and other distinctions" will disappear.</b> But today, caste, which could have been a personal and private matter if left alone, is being bolstered in public and professional lives by the same party. <b>In the process, it is creating a new untouchability, resurrecting a new division in Hindu society</b>, which militates against the spirit of the Constitution. The government has decided to appoint an implementation committee for OBC reservations. <b>But why is the government reluctant about a stock-taking of how the reservation policy has worked in the last 50 years? Here are the official statistics for seats of SCs, STs lying vacant in educational institutes: 6,000 in Himachal Pradesh; 1,000 in Haryana; 41,543 in Rajasthan; 11,500 in Madhya Pradesh and 12,549 in Tamil Nadu. Perhaps this also means keeping these many "general category" students forcibly uneducated, who are otherwise willing.</b>
The UPA government has dismissed nearly 100 Central government employees, recruited since 1995, in the last six months. These employees had got a job through fake or forged SC/ST certificates. CNN-IBN recently covered the story (Man exposes fake certificate scam, May 16). At around the same time it sent a special investigative team to Amritsar where it could purchase a fake OBC/SC/ST certificate for Rs 1,000 each (Bogus OBC certificates for Rs 1,000, May 15). Documents available with CNN-IBN show that 30% of nearly 30,000 documents examined by the CBI in relation to the "caste certificate scam" are fake or forged. The imposition of OBC quota certainly promises boom time for racketeers.
There can be no two opinions that the marginalised and disadvantageous sections of society must be uplifted. But is reservation the solution to achieve that end or is it a red-herring? This is simply a demand and supply problem. The seats available in institutions are peanuts compared to the number of applicants. In some places the ratio could be 1:1,000. Today competitive examinations have become elimination tests. A further reduction in seats is bound to psychologically jolt the serious aspirants. <b>A misimpression is being created that upper caste Hindus, driven by caste-prejudice, are trying to block off the backward sections of society from rising, and sacrosanct "merit" is being used as a ruse. </b>
It is the government that has laid down a system based on competitive examinations, where candidates on the top end of the merit list are chosen to fill the vacancies. Now, suddenly to make "merit" a dirty word is to argue against the very system of competitive exams laid down by the government. Besides, no seat in an examination is marked "reserved for general category candidates"; the unreserved seats are open to all, including OBCs. There is no prejudice against capable Dalits, as there is no bias in favour of incapable Brahmins.
<b>What strikes me, as a citizen, is the shabby treatment that Arjun Singh and the Congress brass have given the doctors and prospective doctors  the assets for any society.</b> They expect to be treated by the best doctors, where caste, creed and language do not have any role. Being a surgeon, like being a fighter pilot, is not the same as being a professor of sociology or history. You are literally dealing with a life and death issue. Doctors by themselves are a minority in society.
In India, one caste may consider itself as superior to others, but no caste deems itself inferior to others. Every caste is proud of itself, and caste fidelities could act as effective social capital. Castes like Nadar in South India, by collective will and enterprise, have become wealthy, educated and politically influential. But Brahmins in some parts of India have fallen into a morass for lack of constructive networking. <b>The reservation bill is a heavy one that Indian society will have to foot. This can only gladden the jihadis who would like Hindu society to be Balkanised.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->