Recently, the Department of Personnel and Training presented a report to the Prime Minister supporting quota in promotions for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. This may be seen as a method to reignite the issue of reservations in promotions after it received a death blow early in the year even as the Supreme Court invalidated an order passed by Karnataka Government providing for such reservation. The report comes under a so called Brahamvaadi Government which according to its critics does not heed to the needs of the Dalits but it should not come as a surprise since the thrust of the incumbent Governments has been on being politically correct and expanding the scope of reservations instead of altering it according to the needs of the changing dynamics in the Indian society.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, what the article wants to reflect upon is the fact that reservations are no longer the instrument of social upliftment and fairness in treatment as it was intended to be but it has become a dangerous instrument of social vengeance and promotion of a new form of caste discrimination (reverse discrimination).
The same is reflected not only by the nature and extent of reservations in India but the following kind of narrative which supports the concept of reservation on caste basis:
Social vengeance instead of social upliftment: The Dalits were subjected to discrimination and humiliation in the distant past and the remnants of the same are still visible though such discrimination is now restricted to few pockets leading to their poor economic and social status.
A natural and justifiable reason for supporting the concept of reservations therefore, would be that since they are in a disadvantaged position reservation must be used to push them towards social equality. But unfortunately this narrative has almost never been prevalent and the supporters of reservation now argue that since the deprived classes were subjugated for centuries by the predecessors of their so called upper castes, the successors of such subjugators should now face the humiliation of reservation and the successors of the subjugated must also enjoy humungous benefits.
The chief defect with this narrative is that the same is not concerned with upliftment but emanates out of an intention to avenge the wrongs committed by the ancestors of the so called upper castes in the distant past. The narrative has shifted the focus from social justice to social vengeance.
Had the narrative been aimed at ensuring upliftment of the deprived it would have taken into account any possible improvement in their status but since it is concerned with ensuring cold blooded revenge the concept of reservation is sought to be made perpetual.
The upper castes are supposed to grace themselves for facing continuous economic losses and deterioration of status through no fault of their own for a distant future.
The ‘Aryan’ theory: This narrative is best described by the leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s statement in Lok Sabha “You (the unreserved classes) have come from outside, we (the reserved classes) are the original Indians”.
The Aryan or the outsider theory has been used effectively for propagating that while the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (major beneficiaries) are the original inhabitants of India, the Brahmins and other upper castes carries an invasion into India and subjugated the original inhabitants. This seems to suggest that the Upper Castes do not have an equal stake over the resources of the Nation and it primarily belongs to the reserved classes.
Interestingly and ironically, the Aryan theory is used as a weapon by the same people who outrightly reject the impact of Islamic invasion, a historical reality and who propagate that the Muslim Community should not be a subject matter of ridicule, or in fact the historical fact that an Islamic invasion actually took place should not even be mentioned.
This argument unabashedly and painstakingly seeks to deny certain classes the rights which emanate directly out of their being Indian citizens on trivial grounds especially when it is resorted to by legislators. If India can be an amalgamation of several communities and the outsiders are given protection instead of second class treatment then why an exception should be made in case of the so called Aryans is beyond comprehension.
Conclusion: Reservations should be a measure to uplift the economically disadvantaged but unfortunately in India it runs almost concurrent to caste identities. The quantum of reservation is not as big an issue as the ideology behind reservation. We need to realize the fact that the present system of caste based reservation is slowly leading towards a state of society which would be identical to the polluted caste system prevalent in the distant past except for the fact this time the Dalits would be the Upper Castes and the then Upper castes would be the Dalits. The report of the Department of Personnel and Training is nothing but a small step in the same direction.
The so called Upper castes should also realize that no one is going to fight it out for them in the political arena. Like every other community, they should also form interest groups and demand the abatement of this pernicious system which slowly ensuring the decay of the Indian society.