One of the biggest blots in the Indian History is the stark discrimination in the Indian Society on the basis of Caste lines giving rise to grave inequalities. The Constitution of India envisaged Equality, both social and economic as well as Social Justice as its basic features as discussed in the Constituent Assembly and made even clearer by several pronouncements by the Apex Court of India. Therefore, it obligated the State to make provisions for fostering equality in the Indian Society. This gave rise to the system of Caste based reservation system, which was supposed to fulfil the goal of social equality. Thus, it was supposed to be in place as long as relative equality in the society was achieved, so that every citizen would be able to avail an equal opportunity in every walk of life. The purpose of reservation, in general, and caste based reservation, in particular, was aimed at securing political, social, and economic equality in all spheres of life, explaining its wide ambit from reservation in educational institutions to public service to the National Legislature.
The reservation system as envisaged has not been able to serve its purpose in its entirety, instead it has been used for political purposes by the shrewd politicians. The proponents of caste based reservation, are, moreover trying it to project it as a never ending system, which it was not supposed to be in the first place. Following are the reasons as to why the caste based reservation system needs a revisit.
Creamy Layer:
It is a fundamental flaw in the caste based reservation system in India, as Justice Krishna Iyer coined the term creamy layer in Thomas’s Case, the Supreme Court held that ‘benefits of the reservation shall be snatched away by the top creamy layer of the backward class, thus leaving the weakest among the weak and leaving the fortunate layers to consume the whole cake’. Therefore, caste based reservation does not exclude those who have already availed its benefits and the benefits of the system as a whole have more or less remained confined to such well to do section of the Dalits. This in fact does not at all serve the purpose of Social Equality and Justice.
Statistics too corroborate the findings of this Supreme Court pronouncement, as there has been still some hike in the number of SCs and STs employed in the Class I and Class II posts of Government Service at the Central Level, the employment of Scheduled Castes showed a marginal increase from 21% to 26% from 1959 to 2009 at the Class IV level, showing that the poorest of the poor have not been able to avail proper benefits of current reservation system.
Constitution envisages Social Justice, not Social Vengeance
The Constitution of India had envisaged relative equality for the Dalits, but the reality is that it is having the effect of Social Vengeance, which is actually the antithesis of Social Justice whereby a new set of elites (creamy layer) has emerged within the Hindu Society which compromises of those who have once availed of reservation benefits in several spheres of life, whether it may be educational, service or promotional but even after their upliftment, they continue to enjoy the benefits of reservation, which can be more aptly defined as reverse discrimination against the Upper Castes and the poorest of the Dalits. We need to decide whether we want Social Vengeance or we want Social Justice. The present reservation system, though has achieved social vengeance with considerable success has failed to secure Social Justice.
No Political and Social Equality:
The reservation system has though achieved some marginal relative economic equality; it has completely failed to achieve political and social equality. In fact, it has further divided the Indian Society and has given an official stamp to our caste identity making it stronger and somewhat endless, though the purpose of classification may have been to achieve economic equality or to divide the society for political dividends; it has definitely achieved only the latter with commendable success by rigidifying our Caste identities. The fact remains that such social division still exists, so a Brahmin Government officer would share his food only with another Brahmin officer and the purpose of social equality with few exceptions remains unfulfilled, rural India, in particular still suffers from such division that Reservation has not been able to eliminate.
The Political implications of reservation have been rather manifold, but its main implication has been, in fact, the evil of Vote Bank Politics, as the Electorate has been over the last 7 decades has been made to compromise on the politics of development for the politics of Caste and Religion in general and Caste Politics in particular, the latest example of all is the Bihar Elections, where a party, even after being more strongly inclined towards development lost to Jungle Raj because of a single comment from RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagvat which though being a political disaster was morally and practically sound. As far as, reservation of Parliamentary Constituencies is concerned, it has only made the Dalit MPs, the pawns in a game of numbers. In fact, some politicians have only survived on the basis of Caste Identity and have nothing to show as far as development is concerned.
Compromise with Merit:
The quantitative aspect of Caste based Reservation system has been way too unscientific and over the top. The perfect example of this unexplainable misery of caste system is the Nivedita Jain’s Case before the Supreme Court of India where the M.P. Government was allowed to completely relax the qualifying marks for the reserved categories, i.e. the SCs and the STs, for admission into a Medical College. Thus, if a student from the reserved category, irrespective of his/her economic status even sat in the examination because of ‘abundance’ of reserved seats, was entitled to be admitted and those in the unreserved categories would fail to get admission even after achieving the qualifying marks.
The question which thus arises is, whether such a system envisages complete compromise with merit as a basis of selection. Indeed, such system is bound to deplore the meritorious standards in all spheres of life.
Conclusion:
The intent of the Constitution Makers cannot be doubted, they definitely would not have envisaged such ills of the reservation system but the harsh reality is the current system has done more harm than good. Certain norms need to be developed which make the reservation system more practical, eliminates the Creamy Layer or Reverse Discrimination and does not make a serious compromise with talent and merit.
Though a minimum ceiling has been devised for the OBCs, no such ceiling has been devised for the SCs and the STs but devising such a ceiling would be in the larger interest of the poorest of the Dalits. Moreover, it is time to consider other manners of classification for reservation based on economic and regional aspects. Thus, giving a chance to the Hindu Upper Caste who despite of his caste superiority is actually disadvantaged out of his/her vagrancy and bringing all the regions on a relatively equal footing.
Reservation can change the economic composition of the Indian society but it cannot help get rid of political and social inequities, for that purpose, we need active Social Reconstruction, it can end only if the doors of temples are once again opened for the Dalits and if a Dalit is conversant with the scriptures, he must in fact be able to become a priest. We need to open up the society rather than rigidifying our caste identities and division. The basis of Social Reconstruction should be rid of present sense of vengeance.
Vote Bank Politics is, in fact, a system perpetuating out of illiteracy and political unawareness and its foolproof solution is better education levels and a politically active society.
Reconsideration of caste based reservation is not aimed at denying the disadvantaged of any benefits but to speed up their upliftment.