One of the quirks of post-independence India is that while abolishing untouchability, the Constitution also provides for reservations in Government jobs and higher education institutions for untouchables (present-day Scheduled Castes), along with Scheduled Tribes. It thereby perpetuates the very practice of social discrimination that it purports to outlaw. To quote the relevant proviso, Article 17 states: " 'Untouchability' is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. . .". Extending the formula of reservations further, the Congress and other parties which spout secular and democratic jargon ad nauseum, have acted untiringly to keep social stigmas, hinging on caste, jati and religion, alive by striving to bring newer and newer categories within the ambit of quotas.
Thus, other backward classes, a nebulous category of land-owning and livestock-rearing communities, which are not oppressed or poor, manouevered their way into the quota basket to grab a share, larger than that given to the original allottees. They got 27.5 per cent in Government jobs and educational institutions, as compared to 22.5 per cent for SCs/STs. Then, cleverly circumventing the Supreme Court's ruling against members of 'the creamy layer' —that is, high-income OBCs — appropriating reservation benefits, their leaders managed to get the income ceiling, defining creamy layer, raised to Rs 4.5 lakh and above a year from Rs 2 to 5 lakh and above a year.
It is the old hierarchical system but in a new guise, cunningly camouflaged by the pretence at affirmative action. However, nothing has changed on the ground, with allied social groups continuing to marry and break bread among themselves while excluding others. In fact, the bait of quotas effectively ensures the continued survival, even growth of all kinds of prejudices and taboos in a nation, hoping to become a world leader in a few decades. So divided itself, it seems to have negated totally the ancient Sanskrit adage, 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (The world is one family) — given in the Upanishads, since its own people are being fragmented by the compulsions of real politik.
The latest development in this ongoing saga of caste and religion-specific policy-making is the Supreme Court's interim order, upholding four per cent quota for socially and educationally backward Muslims in Government jobs and educational institutions in Andhra Pradesh. It sets aside the Andhra Pradesh High Court's stay on implementation of this policy. The High Court held the Andhra Pradesh Reservation in Favour of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act to be violative of Article 14 (equality before law), and other provisions, forbidding discrimination by the State on grounds of religion, race, caste, s*x or place of birth. Four judges of the seven-judge Bench stated that the law, being religion-specific, could encourage conversions, and so was unsustainable. Moreover, determination of Muslim backwardness was flawed. A subsequent 2007 Government order, setting aside four per cent reservation for Muslim groups in educational institutions and jobs, was also stayed.
The apex court's interim order may clear the way for the West Bengal Communist Government to allocate a 10 per cent quota in jobs for Muslims as Assembly polls draw near. Muslims apparently constitute about 25 per cent of the population of the State. The situation there is dicey in view of the fact that it is impossible to sift India-born residents from illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who have voter identity cards, rations cards and other markings of Indian citizenship, even if their loyalties lie elsewhere. To defend the move, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been invoking Article 16(4) of the Constitution that refers to the socially and educationally backward category. However, it is easy to gauge his intention as the quota will not be extended to non-Muslims. This shows the egalitarian Marxist credo to be a complete sham.
As the quota juggernaut rolls on, gathering momentum and flattening whatever vestiges remain of the democratic ideal, policy-makers as much as the people they purport to represent, would do well halt it while there is still time. Erstwhile Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has intimated that after parting ways with his OBC compatriots, in his new avatar as a Rajput leader, he plans to lobby for a 'Kshatriya' quota. Others have been raising the demand for a 'Brahmin' quota. As the very rationale for having reservations gets obscured by political machinations, the goal of affirmative action can be attained only if economic criteria, how poor and backward persons and groups are, determine worthiness of beneficiaries. Then, caste, jati and religion would be of no consequence.
