10-20-2006, 07:13 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>SC moulds caste in economic criteria </b>
Pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
Creamy layer, 'compelling reasons' to put brakes on quota
The Supreme Court's two path-breaking decisions on caste-based reservation last week will go a long way in taking the benefit of quota to the most needed class of society. <b>The court's directive to the Government that it must come out with "compelling reasons" supported by "quantifiable" data to keep any particular caste under the ambit of reservation, will have serious ramifications and could see an altogether exclusion of some dominant OBC castes. Like Jat and Maratha were excluded from the benefit of Mandal Commission even though they were classified as OBCs.</b>
Under political pressure of its allies, <span style='color:red'>the Government is contemplating to place the entire set of quota laws within the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to keep them out of judicial review. But the court is already examining the scope of judicial review of the Ninth Schedule.</span>
The apex court's orders would directly impact the proposed legislation to provide quota in unaided and aided educational institutions and could also lead to a subsequent review of the quota benefit enjoyed by a spate of castes under Mandal Commission.
During the two-day conference of Chief Ministers and Education Ministers, opinion was divided on the exclusion of creamy layers from the proposed education quota bills. This itself showed that despite political reasons, at least some State Governments were willing to bite the bullet and deprive benefit of quota provisions to those castes who have encroached on the largesse that should go to the most backward among the backwards and SC/STs.
<b>The Government's decision to hold a fresh caste census after nearly 75 years may not be enough to meet the criteria laid down by the courts. The Government will also have to hold a survey about the social, educational and economic conditions of the castes which enjoy quota benefits. </b>
There lies the catch. The political and social churning triggered by the implementation of the<b> Mandal Commission has seen empowerment of the OBCs in a big way in the Hindi heartland. Yadav legislators constitute the single largest chunk in both the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar assemblies. For better part of the past 16 years, the two States have been ruled by the Chief Minister from the OBC and SC castes.</b>
<b>In south also, the empowerment of the OBC and their political representation has reached a saturation point. </b>The political empowerment has reflected in their social and educational empowerment.
Going by the criteria fixed by the Mandal Commission to identify the backward castes, <b>any review could lead to the inevitable conclusion that a handful of dominant castes have grabbed the entire benefit of reservations. The SC's decision reflects the concern to remove these anomalies which have reduced to farce the entire concept of affirmative action.</b>
The Mandal Commission had fixed three yardstick ---social, educational, economic - to identify the backward caste. Within these three criteria, 11 separate sub-divisions were made and evaluation based on them determined the OBCs.
These sub-divisions under social backwardness included castes/classes which mainly depend on manual labour for their livelihood. These covered castes/classes where at least 25 per cent females and 10 per cent males above the state average got married at an age below 17 years in rural areas and at least 10 per cent females and 5 per cent males in urban areas. It also included those castes/classes where participation of females in work was at least 25 per cent above the state average.
Similarly, under educational criteria came castes/classes where the number of children in the age group of 5-15 years who never attended school was at least 25 per cent above the state average. Also included were castes/classes where the rate of student dropout in the age group of 5-15 years was at least 25 per cent above the state average, and amongst which the proportion of matriculates is at least 25 per cent below the state average.
The economic criteria covered those castes/classes where the average value of family assets was at least 25 per cent below the state average and the number of families living in kuccha houses at least 25 per cent above the state average. Also included were castes/classes where the source of drinking water was beyond half a kilometre for more than 50 per cent of the households, and the number of households having taken consumption loans is at least 25 per cent above the state average.
During the past 15 years, the literacy rate has gone up as has economic status of the average Indians. The social discrimination has been already addressed by political empowerment. If the Government collected fresh data on the same criteria, a host of beneficiaries will come under creamy layer and could be excluded from the provisions of reservation.
The direct results will be benefit going to the people who still remain untouched by the wind of development. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>The powerful OBC satraps may have their own reasons to oppose the creamy layer criteria, but it could bring them in direct conflict with the extremely backward castes, which stand discriminated with the quota regime. The result of the Bihar assembly polls showed that the EBC joined hands with Kurmis to oppose Yadavs. The SC's judgement is bound to trigger both political and social churning.</span>
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Pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
Creamy layer, 'compelling reasons' to put brakes on quota
The Supreme Court's two path-breaking decisions on caste-based reservation last week will go a long way in taking the benefit of quota to the most needed class of society. <b>The court's directive to the Government that it must come out with "compelling reasons" supported by "quantifiable" data to keep any particular caste under the ambit of reservation, will have serious ramifications and could see an altogether exclusion of some dominant OBC castes. Like Jat and Maratha were excluded from the benefit of Mandal Commission even though they were classified as OBCs.</b>
Under political pressure of its allies, <span style='color:red'>the Government is contemplating to place the entire set of quota laws within the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to keep them out of judicial review. But the court is already examining the scope of judicial review of the Ninth Schedule.</span>
The apex court's orders would directly impact the proposed legislation to provide quota in unaided and aided educational institutions and could also lead to a subsequent review of the quota benefit enjoyed by a spate of castes under Mandal Commission.
During the two-day conference of Chief Ministers and Education Ministers, opinion was divided on the exclusion of creamy layers from the proposed education quota bills. This itself showed that despite political reasons, at least some State Governments were willing to bite the bullet and deprive benefit of quota provisions to those castes who have encroached on the largesse that should go to the most backward among the backwards and SC/STs.
<b>The Government's decision to hold a fresh caste census after nearly 75 years may not be enough to meet the criteria laid down by the courts. The Government will also have to hold a survey about the social, educational and economic conditions of the castes which enjoy quota benefits. </b>
There lies the catch. The political and social churning triggered by the implementation of the<b> Mandal Commission has seen empowerment of the OBCs in a big way in the Hindi heartland. Yadav legislators constitute the single largest chunk in both the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar assemblies. For better part of the past 16 years, the two States have been ruled by the Chief Minister from the OBC and SC castes.</b>
<b>In south also, the empowerment of the OBC and their political representation has reached a saturation point. </b>The political empowerment has reflected in their social and educational empowerment.
Going by the criteria fixed by the Mandal Commission to identify the backward castes, <b>any review could lead to the inevitable conclusion that a handful of dominant castes have grabbed the entire benefit of reservations. The SC's decision reflects the concern to remove these anomalies which have reduced to farce the entire concept of affirmative action.</b>
The Mandal Commission had fixed three yardstick ---social, educational, economic - to identify the backward caste. Within these three criteria, 11 separate sub-divisions were made and evaluation based on them determined the OBCs.
These sub-divisions under social backwardness included castes/classes which mainly depend on manual labour for their livelihood. These covered castes/classes where at least 25 per cent females and 10 per cent males above the state average got married at an age below 17 years in rural areas and at least 10 per cent females and 5 per cent males in urban areas. It also included those castes/classes where participation of females in work was at least 25 per cent above the state average.
Similarly, under educational criteria came castes/classes where the number of children in the age group of 5-15 years who never attended school was at least 25 per cent above the state average. Also included were castes/classes where the rate of student dropout in the age group of 5-15 years was at least 25 per cent above the state average, and amongst which the proportion of matriculates is at least 25 per cent below the state average.
The economic criteria covered those castes/classes where the average value of family assets was at least 25 per cent below the state average and the number of families living in kuccha houses at least 25 per cent above the state average. Also included were castes/classes where the source of drinking water was beyond half a kilometre for more than 50 per cent of the households, and the number of households having taken consumption loans is at least 25 per cent above the state average.
During the past 15 years, the literacy rate has gone up as has economic status of the average Indians. The social discrimination has been already addressed by political empowerment. If the Government collected fresh data on the same criteria, a host of beneficiaries will come under creamy layer and could be excluded from the provisions of reservation.
The direct results will be benefit going to the people who still remain untouched by the wind of development. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>The powerful OBC satraps may have their own reasons to oppose the creamy layer criteria, but it could bring them in direct conflict with the extremely backward castes, which stand discriminated with the quota regime. The result of the Bihar assembly polls showed that the EBC joined hands with Kurmis to oppose Yadavs. The SC's judgement is bound to trigger both political and social churning.</span>
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