A Conversation With Those In Favour Of 10% Reservation

The decision of providing reservation to the upper caste in government jobs and education was taken through a majority support by the government under the leadership of Narendra Modi. The five-judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court in a 3:2 decision stamped on this new reservation arrangement.

If you really need to understand the reasons for employment and unemployment in the country, an analysis of the far-reaching consequences of such a decision can be done. Historical domination and the basis of poverty of upper caste in the current system:

First, this reservation is purely on the basis of caste. It is important to understand the difference between caste-based reservation and representation based on social backwardness. Representation based on social backwardness means giving opportunity to those, in a democratic system that is governed by Constitution, who have been, in the past, denied access to education and were forbidden to participate in work related to that of governing the society.

Reservation should be based on representation so as to inculcate a sense of confidence in those who belong to groups who have faced social backwardness. Criteria were set to measure social backwardness. The criterion of economic backwardness was not included in the list.

Therefore, these reservations were not labelled caste-based reservation. They were considered to be a part of far-reaching goals of social justice. It is also clear that these were also not programs for economic justice.

The Constitution talks about reservation based on social backwardness. If economic backwardness is a criterion to provide reservation then, it might lead to the government arranging reservation for the majority of the population in the country.

If you look at the data, 80 crore of the total population relies on free and cheap ration. However, Narendra Modi’s leadership is under the influence of communalism therefore, his politics wants to promote casteism at any cost. 10 percent reservation is called, one based on economic backwardness, but in reality, it is a caste-based reservation.

This is because, this reservation is for those, who throughout the history of Indian society have remained rulers because of their caste status and have considered, keeping themselves away from any work of production.

This means, in a first, an arrangement of reservation has been made in order to keep intact the status of those in position of social domination. It is therefore clear that there is a relation between social domination and communalism.

It is very interesting to note that the Indian Upper Caste can rejoice in such a reservation even when it comes at the cost of changing the Constitution, and inflaming their ‘caste feelings’ and feelings of being united on caste lines and supporting communal politics.

But they will have to suffer its far-reaching consequences in the same way as those who are now addressed as the ‘backward class’, and have faced the brunt of getting the opportunities on the basis of social backwardness. The 10 percent reservation is implemented to act as a catalyst in cutting down the opportunities that have been provided, till now, on the basis of reservation.

These points can be understood in detail. What is the current need of communal politics? It is imperative, for such politics, to maintain its own social base. This is because, without such a base, it cannot act in favour of capitalist interest.

We can analyse how creating such a social base can help the government not only in making rules that favour capitalism and capitalists, but also in creating an environment that welcomes and applauds such rules.

We remember that in 1991, the Vishwanath Pratap Singh’s government decided to ensure opportunities, for backward castes, in government jobs. It was the time when the government of India, had decided to join the new economic system. A system which was created under the leadership of few of the world’s richest.

This was a decision to create a system that would ensure the domination of the rich over the poor for centuries to come. It was at that time, that the Vishwanath Pratap Singh government agreed to the demands of the hundreds of years of movement and decided to provide reservation to the socially backward class.

Making arrangements for reservation for the socially backward at the time when the new economic system was being established seemed like two ends of the pole.

Opportunities were being given for the government jobs, and the rules of the new economic system were being implemented for ending the government institutions itself. However, such an analysis was not acceptable to those, whose sentiments have been hurt since centuries.

It eventually became clear that the government jobs will be in place only for a few years. It was the time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was handling the communalism front in politics. L.K Advani, on the basis of using Hindu mythology for the party's own purpose and motives, was on a spree to take out the Rath Yatra from one end of the country to another.

On the other hand, the BJP government was putting pressure to implement the new economic policies. Capitalism needed to manage and maintain everything for its own benefit. It meant to cull and divert the large outcry against the consequences of the new economic policies. For this, it was needed to put the various political parties to work .

It should also be remembered that when the decision of providing opportunities, to the backward classes, in government jobs was implemented, the demand for putting in place such an arrangement in the private sector started reaching the committee that made the decision.

This demand seemed odd to the committee.

In reality, this whole exercise was meant to use Bahujans of Indian society as a social base for the new economic system, and this is what eventually happened. The remaining opportunities in the government sector were ended.

Privatisation was implemented rapidly. Unemployment rose and the consciousness developed to protect rights was also destroyed. The decision of 10 percent reservation by bypassing the Constitution is implemented at a time when nothing remains of the government organisations.

The politics which decided on the 10 percent reservation has created a monopoly of the few rich, over the wealth in the country. For this, a social base is needed and in the Indian society which is based on caste differences, it is easy to manipulate the caste dynamics.

It is also worth noting that this caste-based reservation is masquerading as being based on poverty. The poor upper caste who have a degree from an educational institution will get reservation in government jobs. But, how ironic is the fact that money is needed to get an education, because the education sector has been privatised and become expensive.

The exploitation of the poor is a part of even this type of reservation. The more socially privileged are ready to be helpful by becoming the social base for a system that will eventually make them poor.

Anil Chamadia is a former professor of mass media, and faculty at IIMC. He edits media journal Mass Media. Views expressed are the writer’s own.