09-18-2009, 05:13 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Did Mandal mislead us?</b>
pioneer.com
Anuradha Dutt
<b>OBCs are only 38.5% of the countryâs population</b>
Union Law Minister Veerappa Moilyâs proposal that caste be enumerated in the national census, slated for 2011, comes in the wake of a Rural Development Ministryâs BPL survey that estimates other backward classes as comprising 38.5 per cent of the rural population.<b> The figure is far below the Mandal Commission reportâs estimate of 52 per cent.</b> <b>The ministryâs finding appears to tally with National Sample Survey Organisationâs estimate of OBC numbers at about 35 per </b>cent. The disclosure comes as a blow to OBC leaders, who since August 1990, when the <b>Mandal report was implemented by the VP Singh Government, have been relentlessly lobbying for hiking concessions and privileges for members of their communities on the premise that OBCs comprise at least 50 per cent of the population. Their argument is that numerically fewer upper castes need to cede ground to them in the power hierarchy. They need to wield influence in proportion to their population.</b>
The move to realign the power structure in their favour via substantial reservations in Government jobs and higher educational institutions occurred when the Mandal Commission report was implemented, with the Supreme Court fixing the ceiling on reservations â for scheduled castes and tribes as well as OBCs â at 50 per cent. The OBC share was 27 per cent, over-shadowing the 22.5 per cent fixed in the Constitution for SCs and STs, considered by critics of the initiative to be more truly deserving of concessions than OBCs. For, the latter, as livestock and land-owning communities, rich farmers and dairy owners, cannot really be classified as the dispossessed, though they are not categorised among the three twice-born or upper castes, defined by Manusmriti. The most backward class, whose land holdings are meagre, are distinct from OBCs. Historically, SCs and STs, as landless labourers and daily wagers, have had to suffer oppression by OBCs on account of the latterâs position as landlords and employers.
The change in reservations policy fuelled the ambitions of OBC chieftains, whose rise was synchronous with the advent of coalition politics. It gave them leverage in bargaining for power and privileges. Not content with the apex court ruling, they have been persistently trying to extract further concessions from policy-makers, usually citing their numerical strength. The influential OBC lobby in Tamil Nadu is reported to dictate educational and development policies. Quota politics, at the cost of merit, has led to the premier centrally-funded Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and medical colleges being placed on the anvil of reservations. Mr Arjun Singh, the previous Human Resource Development Minister, enforced 27 per cent reservations for OBCs in these institutions. The move for quotas among faculty triggered protests by teaching staff as this would inevitably lead to an irreversible lowering of standards. Their reasoning was simple: One can either pursue excellence or nurture mediocrity or worse. Premier institutes are so considered because their teaching standards are in consonance with the best in the world.
Now, the Rural Ministry survey of the OBC population reduces the earlier estimates of numbers considerably. Assuming the findings to be accurate, the OBC lobbyâs argument that they deserve precedence in admissions to premier higher education institutes and coveted Government jobs because their numbers constitute over half of Indiaâs population no longer stands.<b> The survey places OBCs at 37 per cent in Bihar, described as the Mandal powerhouse. In Haryana and Punjab, where they dominate the economy and politics, the percentage of OBCs is 28.2 per cent and 20.6 per cent. If one were to apply the principle of proportional representation, deployed by BP Mandal and his ilk, then quotas for OBCs need to be sharply reduced in light of the 38 per cent figure given by the survey, and the 35 per cent estimate projected by the NSSO.</b>
A caste-based census may serve to resolve the question of actual numbers of OBCs, who, for the past two decades, have been holding policy-making to ransom on the strength of their supposed strength. The last such survey was undertaken in 1931. Possibly dismayed by the latest findings, Mr Moily is not willing to cede their accuracy. He has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, proposing a caste-based census in 2011. However, this would be incomplete without also listing landholdings, annual income and vocations of diverse groups. <b>For not all OBCs are equal, with, say, farmers in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh being prosperous as compared to their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere. For affirmative action to succeed, distinctions have to be made</b>. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
pioneer.com
Anuradha Dutt
<b>OBCs are only 38.5% of the countryâs population</b>
Union Law Minister Veerappa Moilyâs proposal that caste be enumerated in the national census, slated for 2011, comes in the wake of a Rural Development Ministryâs BPL survey that estimates other backward classes as comprising 38.5 per cent of the rural population.<b> The figure is far below the Mandal Commission reportâs estimate of 52 per cent.</b> <b>The ministryâs finding appears to tally with National Sample Survey Organisationâs estimate of OBC numbers at about 35 per </b>cent. The disclosure comes as a blow to OBC leaders, who since August 1990, when the <b>Mandal report was implemented by the VP Singh Government, have been relentlessly lobbying for hiking concessions and privileges for members of their communities on the premise that OBCs comprise at least 50 per cent of the population. Their argument is that numerically fewer upper castes need to cede ground to them in the power hierarchy. They need to wield influence in proportion to their population.</b>
The move to realign the power structure in their favour via substantial reservations in Government jobs and higher educational institutions occurred when the Mandal Commission report was implemented, with the Supreme Court fixing the ceiling on reservations â for scheduled castes and tribes as well as OBCs â at 50 per cent. The OBC share was 27 per cent, over-shadowing the 22.5 per cent fixed in the Constitution for SCs and STs, considered by critics of the initiative to be more truly deserving of concessions than OBCs. For, the latter, as livestock and land-owning communities, rich farmers and dairy owners, cannot really be classified as the dispossessed, though they are not categorised among the three twice-born or upper castes, defined by Manusmriti. The most backward class, whose land holdings are meagre, are distinct from OBCs. Historically, SCs and STs, as landless labourers and daily wagers, have had to suffer oppression by OBCs on account of the latterâs position as landlords and employers.
The change in reservations policy fuelled the ambitions of OBC chieftains, whose rise was synchronous with the advent of coalition politics. It gave them leverage in bargaining for power and privileges. Not content with the apex court ruling, they have been persistently trying to extract further concessions from policy-makers, usually citing their numerical strength. The influential OBC lobby in Tamil Nadu is reported to dictate educational and development policies. Quota politics, at the cost of merit, has led to the premier centrally-funded Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management and medical colleges being placed on the anvil of reservations. Mr Arjun Singh, the previous Human Resource Development Minister, enforced 27 per cent reservations for OBCs in these institutions. The move for quotas among faculty triggered protests by teaching staff as this would inevitably lead to an irreversible lowering of standards. Their reasoning was simple: One can either pursue excellence or nurture mediocrity or worse. Premier institutes are so considered because their teaching standards are in consonance with the best in the world.
Now, the Rural Ministry survey of the OBC population reduces the earlier estimates of numbers considerably. Assuming the findings to be accurate, the OBC lobbyâs argument that they deserve precedence in admissions to premier higher education institutes and coveted Government jobs because their numbers constitute over half of Indiaâs population no longer stands.<b> The survey places OBCs at 37 per cent in Bihar, described as the Mandal powerhouse. In Haryana and Punjab, where they dominate the economy and politics, the percentage of OBCs is 28.2 per cent and 20.6 per cent. If one were to apply the principle of proportional representation, deployed by BP Mandal and his ilk, then quotas for OBCs need to be sharply reduced in light of the 38 per cent figure given by the survey, and the 35 per cent estimate projected by the NSSO.</b>
A caste-based census may serve to resolve the question of actual numbers of OBCs, who, for the past two decades, have been holding policy-making to ransom on the strength of their supposed strength. The last such survey was undertaken in 1931. Possibly dismayed by the latest findings, Mr Moily is not willing to cede their accuracy. He has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, proposing a caste-based census in 2011. However, this would be incomplete without also listing landholdings, annual income and vocations of diverse groups. <b>For not all OBCs are equal, with, say, farmers in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh being prosperous as compared to their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere. For affirmative action to succeed, distinctions have to be made</b>. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->