Punjab was closed on August 4. The issue: Reservations. No, it was not Mandal,version I or II. This protest was against a few castes cornering the benefits ofthe existing SC reservations, and about ensuring that the most backward amongDalit communities can benefit from them as well.
An anguished Darshan Ratna Ravan, the leader of Adi Dharma Samaj — asocio-religious organisation of Dalits, mainly the Balmikis — discovered thatthe same media that had lapped up any reservation-related news had no space fortheir bandh. He could sense a caste hierarchy within reservation debates:Reservation becomes a national issue only when it upsets upper castes.
Likewise, when the Union cabinet decided last week to constitute a commissionheaded by former Supreme Court judge D Raju to go into this question ofsub-division of scheduled castes, it went practically unreported in the media.
The 'big' story from that cabinet meeting was the decision to grant a routineinstalment of 5 per cent DA to central government employees! Perhaps most of thenewspersons did not know what this issue of sub-division was all about.
Or perhaps they knew that it did not concern 'people like us'; it was some messconcerning 'their' quota. On the face of it, this is a legal dispute.
The dispute began with the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation ofReservations) Act, 2000. This Act sub-divided the reservations in stategovernment jobs for the SC into four categories and fixed separate quotas fordifferent castes within the SC.
The basic idea was to distinguish between castes like Adi-Andhra and Mala, whohave cornered most of the benefits of reservations, from Madiga and other Dalitcommunities who have lagged behind in taking advantage of reservations.
The Act was challenged in the courts, and finally a five-member ConstitutionalBench of the Supreme Court ruled that this Act was unconstitutional.
It ruled that the Constitution visualised SC as a single category and in anycase the state legislature had no right to pass legislation on classification ofthe SC.
Following the Andhra judgment, the Punjab and Haryana high court has struck downthe sub-categorisation of SCs in both these states, in operation since 1975 inPunjab and since 1995 in Haryana.
The Andhra assembly and the Punjab government have appealed to the Uniongovernment to make a law to restore this categorisation.
Hence the appointment of the Raju commission. This issue is not confined tothese three states. All over the country, the operation of reservation forscheduled castes has led to disproportionate advantage to some castes.
In most states of north India, the Jatavs or Ravidasis (leatherworkers bytraditional occupation) community, has gained a disproportionate share of thebenefits of reservations, leaving the Balmiki (traditionally scavengers) andother Dalit communities way behind.
Virtually every Dalit IAS officer you come across from north India, 104 out of107 in the Punjab cadre according to one estimate, is from the Ravidasicommunity.
But in Maharashtra the leatherworkers, Charmakars, and Matangs lag behind theMahar community.In Karnataka, the Madigas are way ahead of Holaya community.
In Bengal, the Namashudras have moved ahead of the Rajabangshis and other Dalits.The same issue concerns categories
like the OBC, ST and the Muslim. It would not be fair to call the relativelyadvanced communities the 'creamy layer'.
It would be wrong to blame them for the disadvantage of other communities. Yetit would be grossly unjust not to recognise this difference and incorporate itin the policy of social justice.
If the mainstream media and intellectuals have been indifferent to thisquestion, the supporters of social justice have maintained a disturbing silence.
Try raising this question with Dalit activists and intellectuals — most of whonaturally come from advantaged communities within Dalits — and they offer thesame arguments that are used against them by 'brahmanic' intellectuals.
First of all, there is a simple denial: Why are you exaggerating the differencebetween different communities?
Then there is distancing: Why should I be punished if these lazy, backwardcommunities do not want to study and take advantage of reservations?
Finally, there is distrust: The attempt to create sub-division is politicallymotivated, aimed at dividing the Dalit community.
The Raju commission would need to view this issue in a broad frame, beyond thelegalities of the matter. The commission could begin by analysing theinformation on educational attainments of different castes within the SCprovided by the Census of India 2001.
Similarly, the commission could ask for information of the caste composition ofcentral and state government employees belonging to the SC.
If the commission's findings confirm the popular impression that the benefitshave been cornered by a few castes, it can recommend a central legislation oreven a constitutional amendment to implement the sub-categorisation.
A simple provision can be introduced to ensure that the sub-categorisation isnot used to scuttle reservations: If any of the sub-quotas is left unfilled, thevacant seats should be transferred to the other sub-group within the SC and notto general quota.
The central government can make an enabling legislation about it and leave theexact sub-categorisation to state governments.