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Reservation in India

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Reservation, in India, is a policy by which a fixed number of slots in educational and government institutions are allotted to members of certain communities based on castes. The communities that are eligible for reservation have historically been scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Recently, there has been a move to expand the scope of reservation to other backward castes (OBCs) as well.

Reservation is a form of affirmative action, which is much more pervasive and stringent than practised in countries such as the United States, with the allocation of fixed quotas based on caste.

Purpose

The stated reason for the implementation of reservation is the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens, such as the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, who had been subjected to thousands of years of discrimination by India's upper castes [1].

When India gained its independence, the constitution gave special provision for certain communities to have a minimum representation in various fields[1]. This initial provision was to have ended after a period of 10 years [citation needed], but the practice continues and the Government of India has amended the constitution, continuing to increase quotas to the extent that many state institutions now reserve more than 50% of their seats[2].

History of the practice

India is divided into many endogamous groups, or castes and sub-castes, as a result of centuries of practicing a form of social hierarchy called the caste system. The traditional caste system, as it is practised, leads to severe oppression and segregation of the lower castes and limited their access to various freedoms, including education. Caste, according to ancient scriptures such as "Manu Smriti", is "Varnasrama Dharma", which translates to "offices given according to colour". The practice of caste in India followed this rule. Despite the abolition by law of "untouchability", Dalits continue to be discriminated against on the basis of their descent. They are marginalized, particularly in rural areas. Among the violations persistently reported are torture (including rape), arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial executions.[3]

Dalits also often suffer violence in the community. Abuses against Dalits frequently go unpunished, with local police frequently refusing to record complaints by Dalits. Much evidence points towards a connivance between powerful caste groups and the police in violent attacks against Dalits.[3] Human Rights Watch has documented the use of sexual abuse and other forms of violence against Dalit women as tools by landlords and the police to inflict political "lessons" and crush dissent and labor movements within Dalit communities. [4]

During the British rule in India, efforts were started, with the aim of undoing centuries of oppression to the lower castes. In 1909, the Morley-Minto reforms introduced communal electorates, by reserving seats to Indian Muslims in the legislature, but not for the lower castes. In 1927, the Simon Commission, recommended reservation of seats for the lower castes in the legislative council, to increase their political representation. This implementation was regarded as temporary, to improve the conditions of the lower castes to an extent which would make reservation unnecessary. In 1932, the British Government introduced the Communal Award, by which "the Depressed Classes were granted separate seats in the Provincial Assemblies and the right of double vote under which they were to elect their own representatives and to vote also in the general constituencies" [5]. This act was considered to be temporary and was to continue, "until determined by mutual agreement between the communities concerned in the statement" [5] . This reservation of seats was incorporated into the Government of India Act of 1935. This act introduced the term of scheduled castes, which was then a list of castes, races and tribes which were considered as lower castes.

In 1942, B.R.Ambedkar established the All India Depressed Classes federation to support the advancement of the scheduled castes. He also demanded reservations for the Scheduled castes in government services and education. After India attained independence, Ambedkar was appointed as the chairman of the drafting committee for the Indian constitution. The constitution included safeguards for depressed and other backward classes. The constitution came into effect from 26 January, 1950. The Indian constitution prohibits any discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth [6]. But, while providing equality of opportunity for all citizens, the constitution also contains special clauses to ensure reservation, "for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes"[6]. The Consitution initially required the reservation of seats in state legislatures to end after 10 years.

Although originally only supposed to last for 10 years, the Indian quota system has grown and become more extensive, and today and applies to many fields including government contracting, higher education and legislative office. Currently, 22.5% of the seats in higher education institutes under the central government are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, while their combined share in the Indian population is 24.4%.[7]

In 1979, the Mandal Commission was established to assess the situation of the socially and educationally backward.[8] The commission didn't have exact figures for a sub-caste, known as the Other Backward Class(OBC), and used the 1930[9] census data to estimate the OBC population at 54%, and further classified 1257 communities as backward.[9] In 1980, the commission submitted a report, and recommended changes to the existing quotas, increasing them from 27% to 49.5%[8]. The report was implemented in 1990 amid a great deal of controversy, and led to the resignation of the then acting Prime Minister, V.P Singh .

Before 2005, there was no provision for reservation for the OBCs in central government run educational institutes [citation needed], but different state governments had implemented reservations for OBCs to different degrees. For instance the Southern state of Tamil Nadu has reserved 69% of the seats in educational institutes for Scheduled castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs[2]. It should be noted that students from the reserved category are allowed to compete with students from the general category on merit as well and hence the actually percentage of SC/ST/OBCs in Tamil Nadu could be over 69%.

Since the implementation of Mandal report recommendations in 1990 for government jobs, the number of backward communities have grown due to continuous incorporation by various state governments. As of 2006, 2297 communities are listed as backward, an increase of more than 90% from 1991, and no community has ever been removed from the list despite the progress made.

A proposal to increase the reservation for backward groups in universities to 49.5% to include OBCs in all central government institutes of higher education in 2006 has caused a great deal of controversy, and protests by people from various section of urban society.

Arguments

Pro-reservation arguments

The advocates of the plan say:

  • . . .that there is no adequate representation of oppressed classes in these institutes corresponding to their population. [citation needed]
  • . . .that due to historical and current[citation needed] oppression, it is not fair to expected the oppressed classes to compete with the so-called upper class students.
  • . . .that these measures can somehow help to undo centuries of oppression.
  • . . .that safeguards already exist to protect against exploitation by people who have a good economic background.[10]
  • . . .that reservations have been present in states like Tamil Nadu for many years and have produced good results in promoting social justice without compromising quality.[11]
  • . . .that such Affirmative action policies, without quotas, exist in other countries
  • . . .that is not against article 15(Right to equality) of the constitution because Art. 15(4) says that government can take necessary steps for the upliftment of socially and educationally backward classes. [6]

Anti-reservation arguments

The opponents of the issue argue:

  • . . .that allocating quotas on the basis of caste is a form of racial discrimination which is contrary to the right to equality.
  • . . . that as a consequence, legislation for providing reservation for Christians and Muslim religious minorities in all government education institutions will be introduced [12], which is contrary to the ideas of secularism, and is a form of discrimination on the basis of religion.
  • . . .that most often, only the economically sound people (and rather rich) from the so-called lower castes will make use of most of the reserved the seats, thus making the aim a total failure.[13] Political parties know reservations are no way to improve the lot of the poor and the backward. They support them because of self-interest of the “creamy layer”, who use the reservations to further their own family interests, and as a political flag of ‘achievement’ during election campaigns.[14] In fact, several studies show that the OBC class is quite comparable with the general caste in terms of annual per capita consumption expenditure, and the top strata of OBC is ahead in a host of consumption areas.[15]
  • . . .that the quality of these elite institutes may go down, because merit is severly being compromised by reserving seats for certain caste-based communities.[16]
  • . . .that there are no efforts made to give proper primary education to really deprived classes,[13] so there is no need to reserve seats for higher studies. The government schools in India have absolutely no comparison to the public schools in the developed countries, and only about 65% of the Indian polupation is literate[17], the functional literacy being estimated to be even as low as only 34% of the population[citation needed]. The critics argue that "reservation" only in higher institutions and jobs, without improving primary and secondary education, cannot solve this problem.[14]
  • . . .that the government is dividing people on the basis of castes for political advantages.[16]
  • . . .that this can also lead to prolonged reservation system indefinitely.
  • . . .that, the caste system is kept alive through these measures. Instead of coming up with alternative innovative ideas which make sure equal representation at the same time making the caste system irrelevant, the decision is only fortifying the caste system.
  • . . .that the autonomy of the educational institutes are lost.[14]
  • . . .that not everyone from the so-called upper class are rich, and not all from so called lower classes are poor.[14]
  • ...that this policy of the Congress will create a huge unrest in the Indian society.[16][18] Providing quotas on the basis of caste and not on the basis of merit will deter the determination of many educated and deserving students of India.[16]
  • ...that this policy of the government will also increase the phenomenon of Brain Drain from India and the under graduates and graduates will start moving to foreign universities for higher education.This will be in such a case a great set back and will have the most devastating affects on Indian education and economy[citation needed].
  • ...that multi-national companies will be deterred by this action of the government,and foreign investment in India may dry down, hurting the growth of the Indian economy.[14] Doubtless, urgent actions to improve the lot of the majority, which has not benefited from development — not achieved after 55 years of reservations for scheduled castes — are essential. But this must not hazard improving the economy’s competitiveness in a very competitive world.[14]
  • ... there are already talks of reservations in the private sector.[14] If even after providing so many facilities to reserved categories during education, if there is no adequate representation of those people in the work force, there must be some problems with the education system. Unfortunatley, in India government never seems to address real issues involved.

Other notable suggestions

The following policy changes have been suggested in order to find a solution to the problem:

  • The current scenario in India clearly shows the backward classes enjoy overwhelming majority in fields like Politics, Administrative services, government jobs etc. That clearly shows they have outprospered the forward classes and they are the one calling the shots. So this amendment seems be a case of "Tit for Tat" a way to extract a revenge for 4000 years of oppression.
  • In the current Indian society the inequalities have greatly come down. Especially in Indian cities its very difficult to separate individuals based on caste unless it is revealed. Youngerr generations come to know of their friends' social category only during the time of admissions to the higher education institutions. So in the current scenario, the quota system is creating a rift instead of its original purpose to make everyone in the society equal. A rational mind will wonder why there is an amendment to increase the current quota system when actually it should be the other way!
  • The current reservation system is based on 1931 census by British India. British India's census gave details about percentage of Hindus, Muslims, Brahmins, SCs, STs, OBCs etc. It is not only for administrative convenience but also for "Divide and Rule". In 1941 they didn't conduct census and so Indian reservation quota system framed by constitution is based on the details on 1931 census. The irony is the Mandal comission as well as the current amendment in question is also based on this with respect to OBCs, because free India's census only show the percentage of SCs, STs and religions.
  • People who are tax payers or children of tax payers should not be eligible for reservation.This is will ensure that benefits reach poorest of the poor and India will achieve social justice.
  • There should be proper monitoring of who takes benefits out of the facilities given.
  • Emphasis should be given to proper primary (and secondary) education so that people from so called lower strata of the society become natural competitors.
  • Increase the number of higher education institutes. For example, seven good engineering institutes for a country of one thousand million, planning to become an economic and political power in the world is not substantial at all.
  • Once a person gets a job from the quotas it should not be extended to his/her children as it would make the community complacent and also at the same time deny opportunities to other more deserving candidates from the lower community. Essentially a shrinking population base that needs upliftment will happen by adopting this policy.
  • Govt should stop Private medical colleges from imparting post graduate courses as they dilute quality a lot.
  • Do away with all other kind of formal reservation in India like near 100% reservation in post of Hindu Temple priests, post of Sankaracharya
  • Current reservation proposals only seem attractive to many people who suppot it but it is of no use to millions of people who are leading a very pathetic life in India, irrespective of caste. Right approach would be to provide them proper primary education, to prevent their drop out from schools and making them "natural competitors" and to give scholarships at the higher levels rather than forcing 50% reservation. A recent example of this approach is when backward class and village students from one of the most under developed states Bihar made it to IIT in the general category,[19] thanks to proper guidance and economic help. However, the initiative was from private sector, not government effort.
  • Bhargava of the National Knowledge Commission proposed a time bound programme, more emphasis on primary education and excluding the creamy layers from reservations [20]

Recent developments

Main article: Indian anti-reservation protests, 2006

In the year 2005, based on the recommendations of an independent panel, the UPA government at the centre proposed to implement quota system for Scheduled caste, Schedule tribe, Other Backward Classes (OBC) and minority communities in IITs and IIMs (for both students and faculty).

In order to pave way for such reservation scheme, the Constitution of India was amended (the 93rd Constitutional Amendment, originally drafted as 104th Amendment Bill). In 2006, the UPA government promised to implement 27% reservation for OBCs in institutes of higher education (twenty central universities, the IITs, IIMs and AIIMS) after 2006 Assembly elections. This, if implemented, would reduce the seats for the general section of the population to less than 50.5% (since those for whom the quota is granted can also compete with the general section on merit).

This led to sharp reactions from the student communities in the institutes concerned (especially students from medical institutes[21][22][23]) and also substantial opposition from students of other colleges not getting affected by the proposed reservation scheme. Students gathered under the banner of "Youth for Equality" and demanded that the government roll back its decision to grant more reservations. In north India It led to protests,including hunger strikes (especially by medical students[21][22][23] ), though the government and the police took stern measures to suppress the protestors. In Mumbai on May 17, the police beat the peaceful anti-reservation agitators (medical students of King Enward and other medical colleges of Mumbai) with sticks, leading to a furor among the other students in the other cities. Pro-reservation groups have claimed the anti-reservation protests have succeeded largely due to biased media reporting.

Two members of the National Knowledge Commission - Dr. P B Mehta and Dr. A Beteille resigned opposing the reservation move. Dr. P B Mehta [24] and Dr A. Beteille made their positions clear in the resignation letters which they made public.

Population data

According to 2001 census, out of India's population of 1,028,737,436 the Scheduled castes comprises 166,635,700 and Scheduled Tribe 84,326,240, that is 16.2% and 8.2% respectively. There is no data on OBCs in the census.[25] However, according to National Sample Survey's 1999-2000 round around 36 per cent of the country's population is defined as belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The proportion falls to 32 per cent on excluding Muslim OBCs. A survey conducted in 1998 by National Family Health Statistics (NFHS) puts the proportion of non-Muslim OBCs as 29.8 per cent.[26]

Current quotas, relaxations and preferences

The quota system sets aside a proportion of all possible positions for members of a specific social group. Those not belonging to the designated communities can compete only for the remaining positions, while members of the designated communities can compete for all positions (reserved and open). Even if no qualified SC/ST applicants are available, the reserved positions can not be released for general population but have to be kept vacant or carried over to the future.

  • Members of National Parliament: 22% of the seats are reserved for SC/ST.
  • PG seats in Medical Colleges : some seats reserved for graduates of the corresponding college.
  • PEC Chandigarh : currently 50% seats reserved for Chandigarh domiciles, earlier it was 80%.
  • Central government-funded higher education institutions: 22.5% for scheduled caste (dalit) and scheduled tribe (adivasi) students. HRD Minister Arjun Singh has proposed raising this to 49.5%, by including reservation for OBCs also.[27]
  1. A quota of 22.5 % is reserved for the SC/ST students.But actually lot of seats in reserve category remain vacent & actual figure of students are nearlly 7% SC & 3.5% ST.The unfilled reserve seats are not filled by general category students.
  2. The minimum marks criteria are relaxed for reserved seats.
  3. Candidates not meeting this cutoff are offered admission to a one year preparatory course.They don't have to give IIT-JEE again after this course while they come at level playing field after 1 year of preparatory course.No such provisions are available for poor so-called upper caste students.
  4. Tuition fees and room rent is waived.Similar provisions are also availaible for economically week general class student as MCM(merit cum means) scholarship which is often abused by prosperous people like in SC/ST among general students specially businessman.
  • Andhra educational institutes and government jobs: 25% for BCs, 15% for SCs, 6% for STs and 5% to Muslims, total: 51% (proposed)
  • Medical schools:
    • AIIMS: 14% reserved for SC, 8% for ST. In addition, SC/ST students with only 50% scores are eligible.
  • Members of State assemblies:
  • Government jobs: In general; in the states the reservations are approximately proportional to percentage population of SC/ST groups.
    • Kerala: Kerala Public Service Commission Muslim quota: 12%
  • Public Sector Corporations: Recruitment requirements are relaxed and residances are reserved.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b The Constitution of India
  2. ^ a b With the highest rate of reservation already in place, TN stays calm
  3. ^ a b "Racism and the Administration of Justice Media Briefing". Amnesty International USA. 25 July, 2001. Retrieved 2006-06-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ ATTACKS ON DALIT WOMEN: A PATTERN OF IMPUNITY
  5. ^ a b Communal Award of 1932
  6. ^ a b c Constitution of India
  7. ^ Total Population, Population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and their proportions to the total population
  8. ^ a b Bhattacharya, Amit. ""Who are the OBCs?"". Retrieved 2006-04-19. Times of India, April 8, 2006.
  9. ^ a b Ramaiah, A (6 June, 1992). "Identifying Other Backward Classes" (PDF). Economic and Political Weekly. pp. 1203–1207. Retrieved 2006-05-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |curly= and |accessyear= (help)
  10. ^ Persons/Sections Excluded from Reservation which constitute Creamy Layer of the Society
  11. ^ Neelakantan S. Quota and the Tamil Nadu experience The Hindu 25 May, 2006. URL accessed on 25 May 2006
  12. ^ Quota for Tamil Nadu religious minorities
  13. ^ a b Srinivas, M.N. (1997). "The pangs of change". Frontline. 14 (16). Retrieved 2006-05-24. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Rao, S.L. (5 June, 2006). "TOO MANY BOSSES - The UPA has a cabinet with many insubordinate ministers". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2006-06-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Dobhal, Shailesh (2 June, 2006). "In consumption, OBCs are no longer backwards". The Economic Times, Times Internet Limited. Retrieved 2006-06-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ a b c d "Divisive quota : Education alone can empower". The Tribune. 28 April, 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "Literacy Rate: India". Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2006-06-02.
  18. ^ Ramchandran, S (April 25, 2006). "India Inc., liberalisation, and social responsibility". The Hindu. Retrieved 2006-06-02.
  19. ^ "OBC students crack IIT entrance test on merit". Times of India, Times Internet Limited. June 1, 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-03.
  20. ^ "Quota row: Bhargava writes to PM". NDTV.com.
  21. ^ a b Anti-quota protests spread
  22. ^ a b Nationwide anti-quota stir continues
  23. ^ a b "Doc's hunger strike enters 10th day". cnn ibn, Global Broadcast News. 23 May 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-27.
  24. ^ {{cite news url = http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=128058&pn=0 title = Dr P B Mehta's resignation letter from NKC publisher = financialexpress.com }}
  25. ^ "Population". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2006-05-27.
  26. ^ "36% population is OBC, not 52%". South Asian Free Media Association. 8 May, 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ 49.5% seats reserve in IITs, IIMs for SCs, STs
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