03-09-2007, 08:58 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Casting doubts </b>
The Pioneer Edit Service
SC raises valid points on OBC quota
The Supreme Court has done well to raise issues that fly in the face of the UPA Government's claimed logic behind its ill-conceived move to reserve 27 per cent seats in institutions of higher education, including acclaimed centres of excellence, for students from the so-called 'Other Backward Classes'. That the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act of 2007, whose passage in Parliament was greatly facilitated by the active collusion of the Opposition with the Treasury Benches, indicating that no party is immune to the lure of identity politics, is a deeply flawed law has been known ever since it was conceived by Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh. Yet, nobody in authority has had the gumption of highlighting the flaws lest it displease the intended beneficiaries of such regressive quota politics. Youth for Equality did put up a spirited fight, but it was doomed to fail in the absence of political support; civil society in our cities and towns is too callous to bother about the future of India. However, it is to the credit of Youth for Equality that it has not entirely given up the fight against Mr Singh's dream of penalising meritorious students and degrading higher education; along with others, they have taken the issue to court. It is in this context that the Supreme Court, questioning the legality of the OBC quota in institutions of higher education, <b>has asked the Government to explain how it has fixed the quantum at 27 per cent and the criteria used for determining social and educational backwardness of castes and communities. It has also questioned the Government's decision not to remove the 'creamy layer' from the intended beneficiaries of its largesse</b>.
Those who dared oppose the OBC quota did raise these questions, only to be met with either devious obfuscation or arrogant silence. It is absurd to suggest, as has been done by the votaries of this perverse law, that the numerical strength of those who belong to castes that qualify as 'Socially and Educationally Backward Classes', known in popular parlance as 'Other Backward Classes', can be extrapolated from the caste-based census of 1931.<b> In the past eight decades, the social and educational profile of virtually every caste in India has undergone radical change; their demographic profile has changed, too. It is equally incorrect to use the benchmark adopted by the BP Mandal Commission which also relied on the 1931 Census.</b> Recent surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation and the Ministry of Health indicate that the OBC population is far less than what is claimed by those who wish to subjugate higher education to caste politics. Curiously, although the dispute over the numerical strength of each caste can be settled through a caste-based census, every Government has shied away from ordering such an exercise. That apart, there is the other issue of determining social and educational backwardness of communities in today's India:<b> Should the criteria be based on subjective interpretations that are guided by the exigencies of vote-bank politics or an objective assessment based on economic factors? </b>Hopefully, the Supreme Court will succeed in forcing the Government to abandon its antediluvian quota policy. If that leaves our vote-bank dependent politicians smarting, so be it.
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The Pioneer Edit Service
SC raises valid points on OBC quota
The Supreme Court has done well to raise issues that fly in the face of the UPA Government's claimed logic behind its ill-conceived move to reserve 27 per cent seats in institutions of higher education, including acclaimed centres of excellence, for students from the so-called 'Other Backward Classes'. That the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act of 2007, whose passage in Parliament was greatly facilitated by the active collusion of the Opposition with the Treasury Benches, indicating that no party is immune to the lure of identity politics, is a deeply flawed law has been known ever since it was conceived by Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh. Yet, nobody in authority has had the gumption of highlighting the flaws lest it displease the intended beneficiaries of such regressive quota politics. Youth for Equality did put up a spirited fight, but it was doomed to fail in the absence of political support; civil society in our cities and towns is too callous to bother about the future of India. However, it is to the credit of Youth for Equality that it has not entirely given up the fight against Mr Singh's dream of penalising meritorious students and degrading higher education; along with others, they have taken the issue to court. It is in this context that the Supreme Court, questioning the legality of the OBC quota in institutions of higher education, <b>has asked the Government to explain how it has fixed the quantum at 27 per cent and the criteria used for determining social and educational backwardness of castes and communities. It has also questioned the Government's decision not to remove the 'creamy layer' from the intended beneficiaries of its largesse</b>.
Those who dared oppose the OBC quota did raise these questions, only to be met with either devious obfuscation or arrogant silence. It is absurd to suggest, as has been done by the votaries of this perverse law, that the numerical strength of those who belong to castes that qualify as 'Socially and Educationally Backward Classes', known in popular parlance as 'Other Backward Classes', can be extrapolated from the caste-based census of 1931.<b> In the past eight decades, the social and educational profile of virtually every caste in India has undergone radical change; their demographic profile has changed, too. It is equally incorrect to use the benchmark adopted by the BP Mandal Commission which also relied on the 1931 Census.</b> Recent surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation and the Ministry of Health indicate that the OBC population is far less than what is claimed by those who wish to subjugate higher education to caste politics. Curiously, although the dispute over the numerical strength of each caste can be settled through a caste-based census, every Government has shied away from ordering such an exercise. That apart, there is the other issue of determining social and educational backwardness of communities in today's India:<b> Should the criteria be based on subjective interpretations that are guided by the exigencies of vote-bank politics or an objective assessment based on economic factors? </b>Hopefully, the Supreme Court will succeed in forcing the Government to abandon its antediluvian quota policy. If that leaves our vote-bank dependent politicians smarting, so be it.
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