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Introduction
I would start my paper by pointing out the historical reasons for
giving reservation. The reservation policy in India is nothing
new, as it had existed in our society from the time of the British
rule and the princely states. The motive of having reservation
then was the eagerness to modernise through the promotion of
education and industry and maintaining unity among themselves.
Reservation continued in India even after having achieved
independence from the British. But there is an interesting fact
that needs to be seen, that is the inclusion of provisions of
reservation in the Constitution of India based on caste in
educational institutions was after the intervention of the Supreme
Court in the case of
State of Madras v. Champakam Dorairajan where
the court struck down the classification for reservation being
based on caste, race and religion for the purpose of admission to
educational institutions as unconstitutional.
How far has
this reservation policy succeeded is a question that always
lingers in my mind. The easiest possible criticism of the existing
reservation policy is the creamy layer among the backward classes
having benefited by availing the reservation while the actual
benefits have never percolated to the needy. So my argument would
be the strengthening of the government schools which are in a very
bad shape, which in itself would enable the providing of a level
playing field to the backward classes.
Why is it that
the government tries to evade its duty of providing quality
education in government schools, and take that as an excuse for
providing reservation to the backward class, which is a populist
policy thereby garnering votes for themselves. After reservation
being given in higher education and having reserved jobs for the
backward classes in the public sector now the debate is for giving
reservation even in the private sector. So why is it that it has
reached this stage, thereby proving that it is an ineffective
system and my paper highlights why this existing system should be
changed?
Historical
Reasons For Giving Reservation
India was a country with a very rigid caste based hierarchal
structure where the higher casts enjoyed most of the benefits
while the lower casts were looked down upon by the higher casts.
The majority of the population was backward socially,
economically, educationally, and politically. The backward classes
were classified as the Scheduled castes (SC), Scheduled tribes
(ST), and other backward classes. By 1947 India became an
independent nation. It was at this point that the Constitution of
India was framed and then the framers took forward the interest of
the backward classes by having Article 46 in the Constitution.
Article 46
stated that the state shall promote with special care the
educational and economic interest of the weaker section of the
people, also protecting them from social injustice and all forms
of exploitation. Article 46 was complimented by the inclusion of
many other articles for the empowerment of the backward classes.
Since they were the oppressed classes this was thought to be the
best mechanism to correct the mistake that was being practiced for
many hundreds of years.
Although the
reservation policy is an exception to the equality rule it is
still considered an essential element of equality. As equality has
many dimensions and one such dimension is the reservation policy
for the backward classes. From the beginning with very few
articles on reservation policies in the Constitution now the
number of articles has gone up which I feel is reaching a stage
where there will have serious backlashes. The general candidates
are feeling the pressure all the time. From a simple reservation
of about 15% for the SC’s & ST’s in educational institutions now
the percentage has gone up and also the other backward classes (OBC’s)
have been brought within the fold of reservation by the suggestion
of the Mandal Commission. But even after 59 years of independence
the people still fall back on reservation.
It is not that
the backward have not progressed but the percentage is less
because those who have already availed reservation and progressed
keep getting it again. This results in the formation of the creamy
layer. Instead of having a reservation policy I feel the emphasis
of the government should be to build good schools in the rural as
well as urban areas so that the poor have an opportunity to study.
All kinds of encouragement from the government should be there in
the implementation of such policies. The mid day meal program was
a successful one and we should see more of such schemes which
encourage the poor to study.
Government
Schools
Every parent tries to send their child to private & Convent
schools and not the government schools, why is it so? They spend
thousands of rupees for this purpose but they don’t prefer to
avail the free education given by the state. The government
schools face many problems like shortfall of teachers,
insufficient funds to pay salaries of the teachers etc. There is
also a shortfall of qualified teachers. Whenever the government is
alerted of the condition it turns a deaf ear to the problems. The
government on an average spends about 3% of the GDP on education
while countries that have developed at a fast pace have spent
about 6% of their GDP on education. Right to education till the
age of 14 was made compulsory after the intervention of the court.
The government
has a very negligent attitude towards government schools. This was
visible from the priority given by the last National Democratic
Alliance government to change the curriculum of the schools so
that it would result in the development of their children in the
manner they preferred. Such acts by the government only show the
low priority level awarded by it to the educational sphere. This
needs to be corrected. Only if this attitude of the government is
changed and converted to an active one can there be development of
the backward classes as education is a very important element that
shapes every persons life.
Reservation
in the Private Sector
The current debate is for awarding reservation in the private
sector as globalization has resulted in a boom in the private
sector while there has been a shrinkage in the jobs being
generated by the public sector entities. But is this nation only
for the backward? Why is it that every time the politicians are
interested in the issues of the backward classes? The higher casts
over the generations may have been very suppressive but that does
not mean that tools for empowerment like reservation are misused.
It has increasingly been the case with the politicians. When every
election nears then they have some kind of reservation or the
other being announced which I think is just a mechanism to get
votes.
If real
empowerment is the aim I think the backward should exhort the
government to make good schools and world class institutions for
higher education and make conditions conducive for availing of the
reservation. This would go a long way in solving the problems
faced by the backward. If the backward rely on the politicians
completely and think reservations would help them out then they
would be repeating the mistake that they have been repeating all
these years. It would only help in the concentration of power in a
few among this class which is not the purpose of giving
reservation.
I think it is
the very malfunctioning of the reservation system that has made it
reach this stage where they have started asking for reservation to
be awarded in the private sector. If the whole reservation policy
would have been successful then reservation should have ended in
the educational institutions itself as those who would have got
into these institutions would have developed their skills whereby
they could work as professionals or join the public sector
depending upon their interest. But the backward also have to
change their mind set as they feel they would keep getting
reservation throughout so why work. I have seen the laid back
attitude of the backward classes in my university which is one
among the ten National Law Universities established in the country
where they are completely funded by the state in spite of which
they don’t study.
I am strongly
against awarding any kind of reservation on the basis of cast
which I don’t think is necessarily a good mechanism to determine
the backwardness. A better mechanism would be identifying the
backwardness based on the economic background. A good example to
understand this would be the Brahmins who are considered to be the
higher cast in the hierarchical structure of the Hindus of whom
many are not even able to meet their ends meet but since they are
the higher casts they cannot even get any reservation and be
empowered.
Economic
Criteria
After seeing the functioning of the reservation policy for all
these years I think it’s high time we shifted from this criterion
of reservation to the economic criteria. Although it is not very
easy to do the same but at least there should be a patient try on
the part of the legislature in India to implement such proposals.
This would in turn help equality reach the masses and not get
misused as of now which is the aim of the framers of the
Constitution as well.
Conclusion
Since I have already mentioned some of the reasons for the failure
of the existing system I think the time for introspection has
come. The existing system has not been able to fulfill the
equality clause of the constitution under Article 14 of the
Constitution due to the lack of infrastructure in the rural areas
where a proportionate amount of the backward classes reside.
Neither has it been successful in abolishing the caste system. A
disturbing sign has been the demanding of reservation by the other
backward class whereby the majority would not be left with seats
proportional to their numbers. So it is my opinion that the
legislators take the necessary steps to tackle the issues before
there may be serious social backlashes.
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The
author can be reached at: tapan.narayana@legalserviceindia.com /
